Sea level fear from melting glacier
A HUGE Antarctic glacier which could collapse within decades, causing a rapid rise in sea levels, will be the subject of a joint UK-US research project.
The Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica covers 182,000 square kilometres - an area the size of Great Britain - and is one of the biggest in the world.
However it is quickly thinning, losing around 50 billion tonnes of ice every year, scientists say.
The UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the US National Science Foundation (NSF) will deploy scientists to investigate what is causing ice loss at the glacier, how quickly it could collapse and how that would impact global sea levels.
The five-year programme, called the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration (ITGC), is the largest to be undertaken by the UK and US together in more than 70 years.
Professor Duncan Wingham, chief executive of NERC, said: “The fate of the Thwaites Glacier is one the big unknowns in Antarctic science.
“We currently do not know enough about the likelihood, timing and magnitude of the collapse of West Antarctic glaciers such as Thwaites for countries to be able to plan accordingly.”
Glaciers contribute to sealevel rise when more ice is lost to the ocean that is replaced by snow.
Scientists fear the collapse of both Thwaites Glacier and Pine Island Glacier, two of the biggest and fastest retreating in Antarctica, could cause sea levels to rise by over a metre.
It is also thought that without them the entire West Antarctic Ice Sheet could be more likely to collapsing, leading sea levels to rise by over three metres.
The programme will see autonomous submarine Boaty McBoatface being sent down into the ocean under the ice sheet.