Most of Thwaites Glacier – Antarctica’s largest – could disappear by 22nd century, experts warn

Experts warn that by the 22nd century, the vast Antarctic ice sheet, equal in size to Great Britain, could completely disappear.

Thwaites Glacier is one of the largest and fastest moving in the world. Together with the wider Amundsen Sea Embayment region, it accounts for 8% of the current rate of global sea level rise of 4.6 mm per year.

Experts from the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration (ITGC) say that ice melting on the glacier will accelerate in the 22nd century and could lead to a widespread collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet in the 22nd century.

Experts say if the entire glacier melted, sea levels would rise by 3.3 meters, or nearly 10 feet.

Climate Central’s modeling, an independent group of scientists, predicts that such sea level rise would lead to the collapse of large parts of the central Londonincluding Westminster, Battersea and Canary Wharf underwater.

“Thwaites has been retreating for more than 80 years and has accelerated significantly over the past 30 years. Our findings indicate that it will continue to retreat faster and further,” said Dr Rob Larter, a marine geophysicist at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS).

The expert, also from the ITGC Scientific Coordination, added: “There is consensus that the retreat of the Thwaites Glacier will accelerate over the next century.

“However, there is also concern that additional processes revealed in recent studies, which have not yet been studied well enough to be included in large-scale models, could cause the retreat to accelerate more quickly.”

Thwaites Glacier lies on a bed far below sea level that slopes towards the heart of the West. Antarcticamaking them more susceptible to rising sea temperatures.

It is about 120 km wide, making it the widest lake in the world, and in some places its thickness exceeds 2,000 meters.

Scientists said they used underwater robots, new survey techniques and new approaches to modeling ice flow and fractures to study the glacier.

While they acknowledge that there are many unknowns about the glacier’s future, their results indicate that the rate of ice loss from the retreating glacier will increase in response to climate and changes in the ocean.

The scientists added that the East Thwaites Ice Shelf, which currently covers about half of the 120-kilometre-wide glacier front, will likely disintegrate within the next decade.

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Last year, a group of scientists commissioned by the British Foreign Office to study the “unprecedented” changes in Antarctica warned that disruptions were not being taken seriously enough.

In March, scientists said that designing a radical, 62-mile curtain to protect the glacier from being eaten away by the warm water beneath it as it floats on the sea surface.