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Antarctica’s melting giant glacier fuels rising global sea concerns
The Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica, often dubbed the “Doomsday Glacier,” is deteriorating faster than scientists once believed, heightening fears of a dramatic rise in global sea levels. New research reveals that the glacier’s structure is fracturing and eroding at an accelerating pace, driven by both atmospheric warming and powerful underwater currents that carve its base.
Satellite data tracking its evolution between 2002 and 2022 shows that cracks in the eastern ice shelf have more than doubled in total length over two decades. According to recent findings, this network of fractures is steadily weakening the glacier’s structural integrity, particularly around a crucial shear zone near the area that anchors it to the seabed. Without this natural stabilizer, a large portion of the ice sheet could break away, unleashing vast quantities of ice into the ocean.
The threat does not come from the surface alone. Researchers have detected massive underwater eddies rotating swirls of relatively warm water up to ten kilometers across that are melting the glacier’s underside at an alarming rate. These oceanic “storms” were found to account for roughly one-fifth of the total melt observed at Thwaites and nearby Pine Island Glacier during a monitored nine-month period. Scientists warn that such processes will likely intensify as climate change warms the planet further, triggering self-reinforcing cycles of melting.
Experts caution that Thwaites already contributes around four percent of the current global sea-level rise. If fully lost, the glacier alone holds enough ice to elevate sea levels by more than 60 centimeters. More troubling still, its collapse could destabilize the entire West Antarctic Ice Sheet, unlocking up to three meters of global sea-level rise—enough to submerge portions of major coastal cities including New York, Miami, London, and Shanghai. The consequences would be profound for hundreds of millions worldwide who live near coastlines.
The International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration emphasized that immediate and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions remain the most effective way to delay this large-scale loss. Marine geophysicists describe Thwaites as “barely holding on,” underscoring that even small shifts in ocean temperature or current patterns could determine the glacier’s fate—and, by extension, reshape coastlines across the planet.
