Posted on 09/09/2022 11:20:14 AM PDT by dennisw
Thwaites Glacier — otherwise known as the “Doomsday glacier,” due to the fact it could raise the sea level by several feet — is allegedly hanging on “by its fingernails.”
Scientists discovered that the glacier’s underwater base has been eroding due to the increase in the Earth’s temperature, according to a study published in Nature Geoscience.
“Thwaites is really holding on today by its fingernails,” said Robert Larter, a marine geophysicist who co-authored the study.
“And we should expect to see big changes over small timescales in the future — even from one year to the next — once the glacier retreats beyond a shallow ridge in its bed.”
West Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier is roughly the size of Florida and could potentially raise the sea level by nearly 16 feet should it fall into the ocean, which scientists predicted could happen within the next three years.
Researchers have monitored the glacier’s recession since “as recently as the mid-20th century,” according to lead author Alastair Graham, and have recorded a disintegration rate of nearly double since the last decade.
Earlier this year, an international group of scientists attempted to study the glacier in an effort to help stop the erosion, however, the group was thwarted by a chunk of ice from the doomed glacier.
Graham stated that it “was truly a once-in-a-lifetime mission” and he hopes that the team will be able to return to the glacier soon — since scientists believed the erosion was working at a slower pace before the study was published.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
British researchers have shown that there is a conspicuously large amount of heat from Earth’s interior beneath the ice, which has likely affected the sliding behaviour of the ice masses for millions of years. This substantial geothermal heat flow, in turn, are due to the fact that the glacier lies in a tectonic trench, where the Earth’s crust is significantly thinner than it is e.g. in neighbouring East Antarctica. The new study was published today in the Nature online journal Communications Earth & Environment.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-021-00242-3
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Aha, so the glacier has an “underwater base” meaning it actually is situated in water and not on land.
Please see basic physics 101:
https://www.miniphysics.com/does-water-level-rises-when-ice-cube-is.html
See post 61
Fear mongers will pretend every event proves their claim.
Why are all these rich climate doom politicians buying up ocean front properties? Obama, Pelosi….
“West Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier is roughly the size of Florida and could potentially raise the sea level by nearly 16 feet should it fall into the ocean, which scientists predicted could happen within the next three years.”
There’s that word again, “Could”.
‘Says scientist”, i.e., biased, corrupt, bought and paid for opinion
Chinese Virus-19 safe and effective ‘says scientist’.
New York will be underwater by 2015 ‘says scientist’.
Gag!!!!!!!!!!!!
I will (maybe, but I doubt it) believe it when Obama sells his beah front home for something on higher ground
Yes, what are cubic miles of ice vs cubic miles of ocean. Sixteen feet rise in sea level, yeah sure. Sorry, I don’t see the word “sucker” stamped on my forehead.
Death Valley is 5270 square miles and average depth of almost 300 feet. Relatively speaking it would be easy to run a pipeline from the coast and siphon seawater into the valley. So on behalf of my fellow Californians, if my math is right, we’re willing to take 1.5 million acre feet of the excess. As another poster stated, let’s see the northern Sahara basin do its part. Between us we’ve got this covered. Evaporation and increased rainfall will distribute the water
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn.......
.... what?
Glaciers have been in retreat since 26k years ago.
Several feet or 16 feet? Which is it? Is raising the sea level the same as expanding the sea? (Width v. height) How far inland from the current high tide line will the sea reach? I want to know so I can buy some oceanfront properties.
If the glacier is already floating in the ocean it will not raise sea levels. If the forward edge that is currently restraining other glacier flow breaks off, the following glacial ice will flow faster until it finally hangs up on the ridge that is currently retraining the ice sheet.
If it does not and continues to flow them maybe sea levels will rise, but its not like that has not happened before (periodic flooding of Mediterran and black sea and the currently flooded English channel. ) andthe maldives and other places will need to move, but NOT because of climate warming and we should not pay climate grifters who chose to live in those places! ( Well, we might help the non CCP reliant islands, but not because we caused the climate change...)
No worries. Bill Gates and Elon Musk will soon propose a joint venture to build a mega-drill to punch 12-mile-deep holes into the ocean floors, so the water will safely seep into the earth’s mantle. [/S]
good point... i would love to see a pipeline from the mississippi flood region to the drought stricken west... would enviros protest that?
Here’s some cocktail napkin math.
“As large as Florida...” might clock in at about 1/ 1000th of the land mass on earth...probably less..
Ocean mass beats land mass 70/30 so a Florida sized glacier falling into the ocean would amount to little more than a blip. This assumes the Thwaites glacier currently sits on land rather than a portion floating in water currently.
The thickness and density seems another issue since warmth from the earths core appears to be melting ice from below. How much remains ?
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