Unprecedented Data Confirms That Antarctica’s Most Dangerous Glacier Is Melting From Below
An aerial view of Thwaites Glacier, Antarctica. Photo courtesy of Jeremy Harbeck/NASA/OIB.
Scientists studying Antartica’s Thwaites Glacier, larger in size than the state of Pennsylvania, are concerned about rising water temperatures at its “grounding line.” The grounding line is where the glacier transitions from laying on bedrock to floating on the ocean as ice shelves. At this transition zone, they recorded water temperatures at more than two degrees Fahrenheit above the freezing point. The Thwaites, along with other glaciers, is part of the larger West Antarctica Ice Sheet, which currently holds back ice, that if melted, would raise the world’s oceans by more than 10 feet.
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