Thwaites Glacier

It's also washing out roads and things like that that are built along the ocean.

okay so let's keep uh let's see is that right is that next i guess it is so one thing i just this is like changing subjects a bit here but uh we had eric rigno on as um talk about the the thwaites glacier last year And he's co-author of this new paper, Sea Level Contribution from Thwaites Glacier Doubles in an Observation Constrained Ice Sheet Model.

This is very easy to summarize.

What they did is they took computer models of ice sheets of the Thwaites Glacier, and they have a whole bunch of models and they're not very accurate.

So what they did is they took satellite observations of the Thwaites Glacier and other kinds of measurements and they constrained those models to match the observations.

So they figured out which models, you know, actually replicate what's already happened well.

And then they tuned all of that up to get a better model that was actually good at looking at what happened in the past and therefore hopefully better at looking at what would happen in the future.

Climate engineering is further fueling that scenario, not mitigating it.

And now some sources are beginning to admit to some of what's happening because they can't hide it anymore from phys.org. Thwaites Glacier, that's the Doomsday Glacier, could contribute twice as much sea level rise as previously projected.

There's no could, may, might.

It will.

From CNN, as that glacier melts, its impact on global sea level rise could be double the current estimates according to some new research by a team of glaciologists.

Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica is nicknamed the Doomsday Glacier because of the catastrophe that its collapse could trigger, and it's a huge wild card when it comes to forecasting global sea level rise.

The glacier's about the size of Florida.

It's in one of the least accessible places on Earth.

Uh, the smart climate reporters who actually wanna follow things accurately and not just scare the hell out of you, uh, will typically give you a sense of, this is the most likely scenario, the least likely scenario, the most aggressive scenario.

And you gotta watch that when you watch, uh, all these various climate projections.

I mean, it is called the Doomsday Glacier, Mossh.

You know, it's-

Yeah

... like solar radiation management and things like that are becoming increasingly prominent, I'm asking myself some of those same questions too, where it's like if I have to decide to save the Thwaites Glacier or not, like fine, spray whatever you have to do to avoid the ice shelf collapsing.

Mm.

But I'm also wondering about the second order effects of am I extending fossil fuel lifespan or, like, humanity not committing to changing the way that we're living here because we know that there's some sort of way out of this, even if the way out is not good at all-

Lately, when we hear about glaciers shaping the Earth, it's because they're breaking.

Like in 2021, data from uncrewed submarines showed that warm water may be weakening critical stability points of the Thwaites Glacier, which is also part of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and known as the Doomsday Glacier.

When it breaks, it could raise global sea levels by over half a meter and potentially collapse the entire West Antarctic Ice Sheet, which would flood lowlands and islands across the world.

So the story of ice seems to be closely tied to our human story.