Scientists Looked Under 'Doomsday Glacier' in Antarctica— What They Found Inside Is Worrying

Melting ice sheets in Antarctica have become a cause for concern but scientists have found that one massive glacier is on an irreversible path to collapse. The Thwaites Glacier, ominously dubbed as Doomsday Glacier, is feared to wreak havoc in the future increasing global sea levels to more than a meter. The complex and vulnerable glacier is melting at an alarming rate with the ice loss to speed up in the 21st century itself, per a report by CNN’s affiliate 9News. 

The International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration (ITGC) formed by a team of scientists in 2018 has committed to studying the glacier and melting patterns to understand and predict a possible collapse that would impact all corners of the world. They based their study taking into account past published papers in light of the scarce information available. In a report published in 2024, the scientists enlisted crucial findings from six years of research which they marked was an impending “grim” scenario. 

A torpedo-shaped robot called Icefin was sent to survey the deeper inaccessible ends of the Thwaites. It eventually found the grounding line– a mark where the seabed ice rises up and floats on the surface. "For glaciologists, I think this had the emotional impact that perhaps the moon landing had on the rest of society," said Kiya Riverman, a glaciologist at the University of Portland. The images retrieved from Icefin showed the atypical ways the ice was perishing into water causing “staircase” formations in the ice below. "Antarctica remains the biggest wild card for understanding and forecasting future sea level rise," the researchers stated. 

Thwaites Glacier, which is about the size of the US state of Florida, has been rapidly melting for the past three decades and that pace is only set to increase over time. This is partly because of the glacier’s geographical location as it rests on a slope that tips into the ocean, deeming it vulnerable to further melting. The big collapse of the glacier along with the Antarctic Ice Sheet, however, was predicted to occur within 200 years of time, that is, in the 23rd century.  "Our findings indicate it is set to retreat further and faster," said Rob Larter, a marine geophysicist at the British Antarctic Survey and ITGC scientist. 

The more concerning factor, besides the fact that it would elevate global sea levels, is Thwaites holds the Antarctic ice sheet together like a cork, the study explained. Therefore, its collapse would eventually expose the ice sheets to the warm waters of the ocean, melting the mountains of ice from beneath. When these ice sheets collapse further, the sea levels may witness a 10 feet rise submerging most of the coastal lands globally. To back the data by the ITGC, other studies used GPS and satellite imagery to review the impacts of tides and seawater, per the source.  

Julia Wellner, a professor at the University of Houston traced the history of the Thwaites and what triggered the rapid melting initially. Through analysis of the marine sediment cores, she discovered that the glacier started melting in the 1940s following the effects of a voracious El Nino event, which is historically linked to warming climates. Even though the big collapse will not happen until the next 200 years or probably not at all, the researchers suggested several more studies are needed for a deeper grasp on the subject.