Scientists warn that the Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica is melting faster than expected and affecting sea levels worldwide. Usually, these large packs of ice have melted regularly, but that has changed recently. A study says that the glacier is melting due to climate change with extra help from the earth's internal heat.
Until now, this discovery is causing concern about its effects on the environment. A combination of the earth's heat and climate change as the cause of melting is what the scientists are investigating.
Concern over the melting of Thwaites Glacier in Antartica
The Thwaites Glacier is changing, which causes the sea level to rise due to getting melted by heat coming from the earth's crust. The closest contact to the crust in Western Antarctica is 10 to 15 miles deep, less than eastern Antarctica, which is 25 miles, reported the Daily Mail.
According to Dr. Ricarda Dziadek, the study's lead author, in a statement noted by AWI, a geothermal flow of intense heat coming from under is measured at 150 milliwatts per square meter.
The Thwaites Glacier contributes approximately 4% of yearly sea-level rise and is now estimated to lose 80 billion tons of ice each year.
From 1980 onwards, a total volume of 600 billion tons of ice is lost based on a 2017 investigation based on the data procured from the NASA JPL.
Distinct causes of melting sea ice were getting enabled by hidden rivers or channels, noted Live Science. Although scientists attribute it more to climate and increased heat emanating from the crust. If Antarctica's Doomsday glacier continues to melt faster, it will significantly impact the environment.
Read Also: Huge Lake in East Antarctica Disappears in A Week, Crack in the Ice Shelf is Suspected Cause
The scientists investigated and looked at other clues, like the geomagnetic field data sets of West Antarctica as a base to create simulations for geothermal heat flow maps. The heat flow map helps tie in all the factors that govern the ice loss mechanism, despite no clarity about its impact.
Geothermal heat leads to Thwaites Glacier melting
One of the geophysicists, Dr. Karsten Gohl, remarked that many factors would influence the temperature of the glaciers' bottom part. There could be the compact, solid rock or the underwater features.
The ocean water carries the rising heat much better, although it can also keep heat away, moving the energy before it can accumulate at the glacier bottom.
Scientists obtained the first-ever footage of the glacier's bottom in 2020, exposing tumultuous, hot waters under glacial ice sheets, which are driving the ice sheet's "unstoppable collapse."
The varying location of the earth's crust determines the temperature, from 200 to 400 degrees Celsius, near the Mojo. Scientists are sure that heat from the ground is a significant factor in considering the glacier's future.
Further, Gohl states that increased thermal heat affects the bottom of the glacier bed, which will not be frozen entirely or cause a film of water to form on the surface.
These ice masses would be sliding on the ground quickly without the braking effect of the ice shelf seen in West Antarctica. If there is more heat, then more flow would be present that melts the ice.
A potential sea-level rise of six feet will be expected because theThwaites Glacier is melting faster, which concerns coastal areas in Antarctica and the entire world.
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