'Doomsday' glacier — which could raise sea levels several feet if melted — 'holding on by fingernails'
between warming seas and the much larger West Antarctic ice sheet, that gives it its ominous nickname.
, led by the University of South Florida , found that the Thwaites glacier has melted far faster in past centuries than has been observed in recent years — meaning that a similar brisk pace of retreat could be triggered in the future. The researchers learned this by using underwater drones to map the sea floor under the glacier for the first time. The ridges they mapped are"like a footprint" showing where the base of the glacier has previously sat, according to the news release.
"Thwaites is really holding on today by its fingernails, and we should expect to see big changes over small timescales in the future – even from one year to the next – once the glacier retreats beyond a shallow ridge in its bed," said Dr Robert Larter, a marine geophysicist from the British Antarctic Survey who-authored the study.
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