Scientists Predict Faster Retreat for Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/news-events/scientists-predict-faster-retreat-antarcticas-thwaites-glacier

Scientists Predict Faster Retreat for Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier

October 26, 2011

Study Identifies Underwater Ridge Critical to Future Flow

The retreat of Antarctica’s fast-flowing Thwaites Glacier is expected to speed up within 20 years, once the glacier detaches from an underwater ridge that is currently holding it back, says a new study in Geophysical Research Letters.

Thwaites Glacier, which drains into west Antarctica’s Amundsen Sea, is being closely watched for its potential to raise global sea levels as the planet warms. Neighboring glaciers in the Amundsen region are also thinning rapidly, including Pine Island Glacier and the much larger Getz Ice Shelf. The study is the latest to confirm the importance of seafloor topography in predicting how these glaciers will behave in the near future.

Scientists had previously identified a rock feature off west Antarctica that appeared to be slowing the glacier’s slide into the sea. But this study is the first to connect it to a larger ridge, using geophysical data collected during flights over Thwaites Glacier in 2009 under NASA’s Ice Bridge campaign. The newly discovered ridge is 700 meters tall, with two peaks—one that currently anchors the glacier and another farther off shore that held the glacier in place between 55 and 150 years ago, according to the authors.

…

The discovery that Thwaites is losing its grip on a previously unknown ridge has helped scientists understand why the glacier seems to be moving faster than it used to.

…

http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2011GL049026

[hatrack]

1. Oops.

nt