Antarctica Doomsday Glacier: 'We should all be very concerned'

Scientists studying Antarctica's vast Thwaites Glacier – nicknamed the "Doomsday Glacier" – say warm water is seeping into its weak spots, threatening its demise and a massive sea rise. Thwaites, which is roughly the size of Florida, represents more than half a metre (1.6 feet) of global sea level rise potential, and could destabilise neighbouring glaciers that could cause a further 3-metre (9.8-foot) rise. As part of the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration – the biggest field campaign ever attempted in Antarctica – a team of 13 scientists from the United States and United Kingdom spent about six weeks on the glacier in late 2019 and early 2020. Using an underwater robot vehicle known as Icefin, mooring data and sensors, they monitored the glacier's grounding line, where ice slides off the glacier and meets the ocean for the first time. In one of two papers published on Wednesday in the journal Nature, led by Cornell University-based scientist Britney Schmidt, researchers found warmer water was making its way into crevasses and other openings known as terraces, causing sideways melt of 30 metres (98 feet) or more per year.