'Doomsday' Glacier , Melting at Fastest Rate , in 5,500 Years.
According to a new study, the Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica is losing ice at an alarming rate.
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'USA Today' reports that the study of the "doomsday" glacier raises concerns regarding the impending rise of global sea levels.
'USA Today' reports that the study of the "doomsday" glacier raises concerns regarding the impending rise of global sea levels.
The rapid melting of the glacier was highlighted in a peer-reviewed study published in the journal 'Nature Geoscience.'.
According to the results of the study, the glacier began losing ice around 5,000 years ago.
Over that time, local sea level rose at a rate of 0.14 inches per year.
In the past 30 years, local sea level has risen 1.57 inches annually.
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, Dylan Rood, co-author and faculty of engineering at Imperial College London, via 'USA Today'.
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, Dylan Rood, co-author and faculty of engineering at Imperial College London, via 'USA Today'.
According to the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration, the Thwaites glacier already accounts for about 4% of global sea level rise.
In December, the American Geophysical Union warned that the eventual demise of the glacier has the potential to raise sea levels by up to a foot over the next century.
That dramatic change in sea level threatens to impact coastal cities around the world
