Antarctica’s so-called Doomsday Glacier is losing ice at its fastest rate in 5,500 years, raising concerns about the ice sheet’s future and the possibility of catastrophic sea level rise caused by the frozen continent’s melting ice.
The finding comes from a study of prehistoric sea-deposits found on the shores surrounding the “doomsday” Thwaites Glacier and the neighboring Pine Island Glacier, both located on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. The chilling news? Antarctica’s glacial melt, driven by climate change, is advancing faster than ever before in recorded history, researchers have reported June 9 in the journal Nature Geoscience.
“These currently elevated rates of ice melting may signal that those vital arteries from the heart of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet have been ruptured, leading to accelerating flow into the ocean that is potentially disastrous for future global sea level in a warming world,” co-author Dylan Rood, an Earth scientist at Imperial College London, said in a statement.
“Writer Fuel” is a series of cool real-world stories that might inspire your little writer heart. Check out our Writer Fuel page on the LimFic blog for more inspiration.
