Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier also called the “Doomsday Glacier” is a matter of grave concern due to its enormous potential to raise the sea level which will be caused by its melting due to the warm water underneath which was overlooked in past.
Daily Current Affairs Quiz 2021
The Thwaites Glacier is 120 km wide at its broadest, fast-moving, and melting fast over the years.
Because of its size (1.9 lakh square km), it contains enough water to raise the world sea level by more than half a metre. Studies have found the amount of ice flowing out of it has nearly doubled over the past 30 years.
Today, Thwaites’s melting already contributes 4% to global sea level rise each year. It is estimated that it would collapse into the sea in 200-900 years.
Thwaites is important for Antarctica as it slows the ice behind it from freely flowing into the ocean. Because of the risk it faces — and poses — Thwaites is often called the Doomsday Glacier.
