Antarctica’s doomsday glacier explored
-----------------------------------------
THWAITES GLACIER
192,000km2

Ice loss has nearly doubled over last 30 years

Collapse of glacier would increase sea levels by around 65cm and could trigger wider collapse of West Antarctic Ice Sheet, raising seas by calamitous 3.3m

HOW THWAITES IS MELTING
Warm water flows from deep open ocean onto continental shelf until it reaches grounding line – point where ice sheet begins to float
-----------------------------------------
ANTARCTICA
South Pole
Weddell Sea
West Antarctic Ice Sheet
East Antarctic Ice Sheet
Ross Sea
McMurdo Station (U.S.)
SOUTHERN OCEAN
Amundsen Sea

Thwaites Glacier is similar in size to Great Britain

1,00km 620 miles
-----------------------------------------
Grounding line
ICE SHELF
Ice flow
AMUNDSEN SEA
CONTINENTAL SHELF
THWAITES GLACIER
-----------------------------------------
Glacier retreats

Warm water flow

Warming of Pacific Ocean and shifting winds and currents allow warmer water to well up under ice, accelerating retreat of glacier
-----------------------------------------
Five-year, $50m international effort underway to understand why glacier is changing so rapidly
-----------------------------------------
Icefin: Robot submarine fed through borehole drilled through glacier. It carries high definition cameras, sonar, and instruments for monitoring water flow, salinity, oxygen and temperature

3.5 metres
-----------------------------------------
Sources: thwaitesglacier.org,
International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration, British Antarctic Survey © GRAPHIC NEWS