Doomsday Glacier melting faster, but scientists say we can save it
The Antarctic glacier twice the size of Tasmania could reshape the world’s coastlines. What do we know about the ‘Doomsday Glacier’ and how did it get its name?
READING LEVEL: ORANGE
Nearly a decade ago, a Rolling Stone magazine article titled The Doomsday Glacier rang alarm bells around the world and put a spotlight on global warming.
Reporter Jeff Goodell described the melting of Thwaites Glacier in Western Antarctica as “a nightmare scenario of crumbling ice – and rapidly rising seas – (that) could spell disaster for a warming planet.”
Climate scientists avoid that disaster movie name when they talk about this massive glacier that is twice the size of Tasmania. But Thwaites Glacier is “very sensitive”, University of Tasmania glaciologist*, Professor Poul Christoffersen said.
It is “probably the most sensitive glacier in Antarctica,” Prof Christoffersen said.
“It’s the closest to what scientists refer to as the big point where you can get a retreat* of the glacier to become unstoppable and lead to what we call ice sheet collapse*.”
Such a collapse could permanently change global sea levels, but experts are hopeful that situation can still be avoided.
Prof Christoffersen was the lead scientist in the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration, where around 100 UK and US scientists investigated the glacier’s condition over seven years.
WHAT MAKES THWAITES SO SENSITIVE?
The Southern Ocean plays a big role when it comes to melting glaciers, because it absorbs about 90 per cent of man-made heat from the atmosphere.
The warm ocean water then returns to the South Pole, impacting that environment and especially the glaciers that sit close to the heat.
The Thwaites Glacier is the widest glacier on Earth, running very deep into an ancient, sloping sea floor, Prof Christoffersen said.
“It’s just a type of geometry where, when you get a retreat, you start to lose stability and the glacier actually can’t find other pinning points to rest that retreat from,” he said.
“It is a glacier that sort of sits in proximity to where heat is directed from the Southern Ocean that circulates around Antarctica.
“The Southern Ocean is connected with the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, and Indian Ocean, which include a mixture of all those water masses that have been circulating around everywhere on Earth … That water is quite cold, but it’s still warm enough to melt ice quite quickly.”
If the giant glacier unpins from the sea floor and turns into a floating shelf, it will melt much faster and dramatically change sea levels, leading to massive coastal damage.
Such an unmooring might also threaten penguin colonies, which would likely be affected by massive icebergs, but Prof Christoffersen said preventing such outcomes remained possible this century.
THE LATEST RESEARCH
New research published in Nature Communications last week found the retreat – the shrinking and melting of glaciers – was happening much faster than scientists thought.
The group’s findings showed global sea levels could rise up to 30mm by 2100, which is roughly double the levels previously projected.
University of California researchers worked together with NASA using computer models to take a closer look at what was happening on the sea floor, where the Mouginot ridge and South ridge hold the massive glacier in place.
The researchers suggested there was a 60 per cent chance that the Thwaites Glacier could unpin from Mouginot and become a floating ice shelf by the end of this century.
However, Prof Christoffersen said having the Paris Agreement* was cause for hope.
“If we can adhere to the Paris Agreement of 1.5C or no more than 2C, there’s also a good chance that this won’t happen,” Prof Christoffersen said.
The Paris Agreement is an international climate change agreement that was adopted by 194 UN members, including Australia.
Member nations agreed to keep the global temperature rise below 2C, and try to limit it to 1.5C, besides other commitments.
THERE’S HOPE: WHAT CAN BE DONE?
Professor Christoffersen said we might exceed 1.5C in the next three years, but through green transition*, electrification* and other policies, we could return to a warming temperature of 1.5C.
Some scientists argue that result would not be enough to cool down already warm oceans that are melting glaciers like Thwaites. And there are some who have called for the construction of a big barrier, Prof Christoffersen said.
“A sea-anchored massive curtain that would allow cold water from the glacier to escape into the Southern Ocean, but prevent the flow of the southern ocean’s deeper waters towards the glacier,” he said.
Scientists have estimated the barrier could cost up to $80 billion to build, and maintaining it could cost around a billion dollars every year.
The good news is that the glacier is not melting by itself. Thwaites is affected by its interactions with the ocean, which means we can prevent its collapse by cooling the climate.
“If we completely ignore the Paris Agreement, and if we just continue burning fossil fuels and we don’t promote renewable energies, if there’s bad policies across most of the world, or if there’s a de-prioritisation* of environmental issues globally, given the situation, it could still be a bad outcome,” Prof Christoffersen said.
“If we protect our natural environment, we’re much more likely to serve those environments than if we ignore. And if we are selfish and ruin the natural environment, then nature is going to bite back, right?”
The fate of this influential glacier remains in the hands of people who can prevent a dangerous rise in sea levels by adopting green policies* that better protect the environment.
As the species that has contributed most significantly to climate change, if humanity is able to lower global temperatures to 1.5C by the end of this century, we will no longer need to call Thwaites the Doomsday Glacier. One day in the future, we might credit it as one of the enduring signposts that showed us the extent of human-made global warming and helped us save our beautiful blue planet.
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GLOSSARY
- glaciologist: a scientist who studies glaciers, ice sheets
- retreat: shrinking and melting of glaciers
- ice sheet collapse: an ice sheet is a massive land-based ice and ice sheet collapse refers to its rapid melting and loss leading to rising sea levels
- threatens: puts at risk of harm and danger
- green transition: the shift from use of fossil fuel to sustainable options that are not harmful to the environment
- electrification: the process of replacing technologies or systems that run on petrol or other fuels to electric powered systems and equipment. For example use of electric cars instead of cars that run on petrol or diesel
- green policies: Laws and regulations that protect the environment and promote sustainability and fight against climate change
- fossil fuels: non-renewable source of energy, such as coal or petroleum that is made of crude oil. These are buried deep in the crust of the planet and are remains of decomposed plants and animals
- de-prioritisation: the process of lowering priority level, giving less importance
EXTRA READING
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What triggered the Nepal-Tibet border flash flooding
World on watch for ‘Super El Nino’
QUICK QUIZ
- What did the latest researchers say about the glacier?
- How big is the Thwaites Glacier?
- What can we do to avoid further melting of the ice?
- How will wildlife be affected if Thwaites Glacier continued to melt?
- What is the $80 billion project that some scientists have proposed?
LISTEN TO THIS STORY
CLASSROOM ACTIVITY
1. Save the Glacier
Work with a partner to design a poster to explain the importance of the Thwaites Glacier and why it matters.
On your poster include the following details;
- A catchy headline that summarises the main point of the poster
- A scientific fact from the article
- A labelled illustration
- Three actions communities or governments could take
- A hopeful message about protecting the environment
Display your posters up the front and compare your design to others.
Time: allow 30 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum links: English, Science, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking.
2. Extension
Which groups and communities could be affected by rising sea levels? Explain each affected party.
Time: allow 10 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum links: English, Geography, Science, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative thinking.
VCOP ACTIVITY
Aside from this, there is also this!
Brackets are a great literacy tool for adding aside comments, or comments that could be covered over and the sentence still makes sense. What’s inside the brackets is extra information.
They can be used for a variety of effects: to add more detail, to add humour, to connect with the reader etc.
My little brother, (the funniest kid I know) got himself into big trouble today.
Select 3 sentences from the article to add an aside comment to using brackets. Think about not only what you want to add to the sentence, but also what effect you are trying to create.