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Warm Water Melts 'Doomsday Glacier' Half a Mile Each Year, Finds Study (interestingengineering.com) 90

Posted by BeauHD from the not-looking-good dept.
Recent research led by the University of California, Irvine has discovered warm, high-pressure seawater causing significant melting under the Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica. "There are places where the water is almost at the pressure of the overlying ice, so just a little more pressure is needed to push up the ice," said lead author Eric Rignot, UC Irvine professor of Earth system science. "The water is then squeezed enough to jack up a column of more than half a mile of ice." Interesting Engineering reports: A team of glaciologists led by researchers at the University of California, Irvine employed high-resolution satellite radar data to uncover evidence of the warm, high-pressure seawater intrusion beneath the glacier. A statement by the scientists noted that the widespread contact between ocean water and the glacier -- a process replicated throughout Antarctica and in Greenland -- causes "vigorous melting" and may require a reassessment of global sea level rise projections.

In a bid to comprehend the impact of ocean-water interaction on glacial melting, glaciologists examined data collected between March 2023 and June 2023 sourced from Finland's ICEYE commercial satellite mission. These satellites represent a collection that resembles constellations in polar orbit around the planet. They employ InSAR -- interferometric synthetic aperture radar -- to continuously track changes on the Earth's surface. "When we have a continuous time series and compare that with the tidal cycle, we see the seawater coming in at high tide and receding and sometimes going farther up underneath the glacier and getting trapped," said Rignot. "Thanks to ICEYE, we're beginning to witness this tidal dynamic for the first time."

He explained that seawater entering the base of the ice sheet, along with freshwater from geothermal heat and friction, accumulates and needs to flow. This water moves through natural channels or pools in cavities, creating pressure that lifts the ice sheet. Co-author Christine Dow, professor in the Faculty of Environment at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada alluding to the glacier in question said that the Thwaites is the most unstable place in the Antarctic and contains the equivalent of 60 centimeters of sea level rise. The worry is that we are underestimating the speed at which the glacier is changing, which would be devastating for coastal communities around the world. "At the moment we don't have enough information to say one way or the other how much time there is before the oceanwater intrusion is irreversible, says Dow. The study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Warm Water Melts 'Doomsday Glacier' Half a Mile Each Year, Finds Study More

Warm Water Melts 'Doomsday Glacier' Half a Mile Each Year, Finds Study

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  • Any ice floating in the ocean is going to rise up with the level of the water whether than be the tide or rising sea levels. So as sea levels rise it'll jack up the base of this glacier and allow seawater further in underneath it. Not sure why they call it warm water, it'll could be as low as -2C but then TFA doesn't provide any figures on this.

  • The Doomsday Glacier... (Score:5, Funny)

    by VeryFluffyBunny ( 5037285 ) on Tuesday May 21, 2024 @06:26AM (#64487225)
    ...might be melting but what's going on with the Armageddon Glacier? And the Revelations Glacier? We should keep an eye on those too.

    • Are those related to the Four Horsemen Glacier?

      I'm hoping we get an article on the Pandemic Glacier, Nuclear Winter Glacier and the Ozone Hole Glaciers.

      I

    • ...might be melting but what's going on with the Armageddon Glacier? And the Revelations Glacier? We should keep an eye on those too.

      First they melted the Doomsday Glacier, and I didn't say anything because I was not a Doomsday Glacier.

    • I'm witing for the Judgment Day Glacier to make its appearance. Or will the Rapture Glacier come first?

    • If I got this right, the Book of Revelations was from the Omen movies with the obnoxious kid in it.

      The Book of Revelation is actually in the Christian Bible.

    • ...might be melting but what's going on with the Armageddon Glacier? And the Revelations Glacier? We should keep an eye on those too.

      After reading just the headline, my first thought was “Hell, I need to get through half a dozen fact-checks already. Do I bother reading any further?”

      2024. When even an obituary can sound like a sales pitch, for clicks and fucks sake.

  • A few notes (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Baron_Yam ( 643147 )

    1) Generally speaking, scientists aren't keen on the nickname, believing the sensationalism stops people from taking it seriously.

    2) "Faster than expected". The absolute worst-case scenario is currently sometime in the 2100s. Sure, given the way these things typically go the worst-case scenario is probably what we'll get and we're being given an overly optimistic scenario so it doesn't get dismissed by the mob as 'fear-mongering'. But still, there's essentially zero chance you're going to see this thing

    • I am 57
      So most likely it will break in my lifetime.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by aaarrrgggh ( 9205 )

      On 2, FWIW if the glacier was melting uniformly 100 years still puts us at 0.6cm sea level rise per year from this one source. Obviously it is not a linear process, but over the next 20 years expecting it to contribute 6cm rise is quite reasonable-- 15cm in 35-40 years is also quite likely. That is actually a huge impact globally within most of our lifetimes.

    • Glaciers melt much the same way you go bankrupt... "Gradually, then suddenly all at once."

  • certainly (Score:1, Troll)

    by argStyopa ( 232550 )

    ...it has nothing to do with the 91 new volcanos discovered under the Antarctic ice.

    https://www.aurora-expeditions... [aurora-expeditions.com]

    • Re:certainly (Score:4, Interesting)

      by laughing_badger ( 628416 ) on Tuesday May 21, 2024 @08:29AM (#64487377) Homepage

      Not exactly new, as they were discovered in research done over 5 years ago. Also inactive and under the actual ice sheet, so not directly contributing to the warming of the ocean, which is happening globally. The article does mention that they could become active if the ice sheet thins and reduces the pressure on them, so if your intent was to alert people to a way that the rate of sea level rise could increase faster than that caused by anthropogenic warming then at least you've accomplished that.

      • Re:certainly (Score:4, Interesting)

        by argStyopa ( 232550 ) on Tuesday May 21, 2024 @09:30AM (#64487521) Journal

        1) we're talking about CLIMATE CHANGE which is a process that takes minimally, centuries. A few years ago is basically the same as "yesterday".

        2) volcanoes are generally a sign of a location of tectonic activity, magma upwelling and generally hot spots. Dormant != cold, duh? Yellowstone is an "inactive" volcano too.

        Look at the location of Thwaites Glacier, and then look at where these volcanoes have all been identified.
        See that 'pentagon' of volcanoes to the lower left of the Byrd Subglacial Basin? That is PRECISELY where this is happening.
        Complete coincidence, right?
        The map:
        https://volcanohotspot.wordpre... [wordpress.com]
        from:
        https://volcanohotspot.wordpre... [wordpress.com]

        Look, I get it. Dogmatically, if you're a scientist today both for funding and not to be canceled, pretty much everything has to be linked to climate change. Whatever. No honest evaluation wouldn't see a connection between 'increased warming' and 'massive pack of volcanoes in the same place' as somehow logically connected.

        • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

          by ZipNada ( 10152669 )

          >> a process that takes minimally, centuries

          It used to take that long, but not now.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by znrt ( 2424692 )

          1) we're talking about CLIMATE CHANGE which is a process that takes minimally, centuries. A few years ago is basically the same as "yesterday".

          they aren't saying that this is due to climate change, they are saying that for the first time they have enough data to graph the phenomenon and that melting is much faster than previously thought, so projections should be adjusted.

          i (not a scientist) would assume that those volcanoes have been there for ages, so if they were the cause, factoring in that adjustment would mean that the ice sheet should have probably melted by now, so either our understanding is really wrong, or there are probably other more

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by AvitarX ( 172628 )

          Are you saying the volcanoes are new, or that this glacier has been doing the same for a long time?

          I'm confused, because I don't think it's being speculated the volcanoes are new, just newly found.

    • Anyone who doesn't want to believe something won't have any trouble explaining it away.

    • The ecomarxists nuking any posts questioning the Climate Change dogma, no matter how much science is involved, are more certain than climate change. Good on you boys and girls.

  • The great winter vortex of 78 & global cooling nearly did me in though.

  • i mean it says doomsday so it must be good if it's gone

  • I always learn so much on this topic (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Clouseau2 ( 1215588 ) on Tuesday May 21, 2024 @10:53AM (#64487715)

    Because the most intelligent people in the world are drawn to commenting on climate change articles. Why the most intelligent in the world? Because without decades of study in climate science, they already know more about climate science than actual climate scientists who spend most of their lifetime studying this.

    They're like The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy supercomputer Deep Thought, so intelligent it had already deduced the existence of rice pudding and income tax before any of its data banks had been connected.

    I learn, for example, how nine paragraphs written in Newsweek in 1975 about global cooling trumps the 50 years of climate science since then.

    I learn how because we once had an acid rain problem and we did something about it, scientists are wrong to warn about global warming.

    I learn how because we once had a hole in the ozone layer problem and we did something about it, scientists are wrong to warn about global warming.

    Etc.

    • Who are absolutely obsessed with discrediting the theory of evolution. I'm sure you've heard them at some point going on about how it's only a theory like the theory of gravity...

      I used to wonder why they go after it so much so I looked into their theology and it boils down to they use the concept of original sin to imply that everyone is guilty and then they force guilt on everyone which causes people to want absolution which in turn causes them to show up at church and they get hit up for money when th

  • how many people really live within a 2 foot / 60cm rise zone; 10%?

    I say more tractor pulls to keep the crowds entertained.

    [/sarcasm]

  • The article said the warm water is coming from geothermal activity meaning that the term âreversibleâ(TM) is moot. In other words, me crushing my jeep and buying. Tesla is not going to stop this. Unless we can figure out how to stop geothermal activity miles underground on a massive scale. This is gonna happen and there is nothing any of us can do about it.
  • buying up more multi million dollar beachfront properties with the money they grift from ocean rise fear mongering.

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