(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . New research on West Antarctica's Thwaites glacier finds a new accelerant of ice flow. [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-03-28 The ice front of Dibble Ice Shelf, a significant melt water producer from the Wilkes Land region, East Antarctica A widening of an eighty mile wide ice stream is the latest concern by glaciologists in West Antarctica to show signs of extreme stress. The river of ice is the Thwaites glacier which holds 2 feet of sea level rise. Thwaites, Pine Island and Crossen ice shelves all of which are weakening together in the Amundsen Sea Embayment would raise levels by four feet if they were to collapse together. A recent Stanford University study published in the AGU has found the widening to be an accelerator of ice flow within the main trunk of the ice stream Thwaites is nicknamed the Doomsday Glacier for it’s potential to raise sea levels quickly as it is the cork which holds back a total of eleven feet of sea level rise in the entirety of West Antarctica. The findings are yet another warning of the deglaciation of the planet's air conditioners. We are in unknown and dangerous waters. The report occurred before the massive iceberg b22A broke away in December of 2022 from the undersea mountain where it had been lodged for twenty years. The loss of the iceberg exposed the tongue of the weakened glacier to the power of the Pine Island Gyre and the open ocean itself. Several pinning points failed, but the tongue survived. March and April are when ice shelves across the continent are at the most risk of shattering and collapse. From Stanford University's presser: In West Antarctica, the 80-mile-wide stream of sliding ice at the heart of Thwaites Glacier is likely to creep outward over the next 20 years, a change that could speed up ice loss, new research finds. "It's like a torrential river eating away at the riverbanks and widening in the process," said senior study author Jenny Suckale, an assistant professor of geophysics at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. snip Led by geophysics Ph.D. student Paul Summers, the researchers found that the observed thinning of Thwaites Glacier, together with changes in the slope of its surface and the conditions at its base, makes both sides prone to move a few miles outward over the next 20 years. "We are considering relatively small changes in driving stress as would realistically occur in the coming two decades," Summers and colleagues write. Yet even this subtle widening—only about 2% of the glacier's overall width—could speed up ongoing ice loss. "If the widening trend were to continue and were to accelerate, then we'd better know. It would mean that we would have to prepare for higher sea levels," said Suckale, who is one of dozens of scientists working to understand the glacier and its response to climate change as part of the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration. The abstract is in plain language. There is no paywall. Thwaites Glacier, Antarctica, is losing ice rapidly, making it a major contributor to the uncertainty in current projections of global sea level rise. Many models have looked at how ice speed and thickness are likely to evolve over hundreds of years. Less scientific attention has been devoted to understanding the possibility that the main trunk of Thwaites Glacier might change in width. Here, we use a numerical model to show how ice thinning and could affect the width of the main trunk of Thwaites Glacier. We find that both lateral sides of Thwaites Glacier are prone to move, resulting in an overall widening of the main trunk when we apply thinning where it is currently observed. This widening of the glacier could speed up ongoing ice loss. To evaluate the sensitivity of our findings on conditions at the base of the ice sheet, which tend to affect ice speed sensitively, we look at four different cases of basal friction and use these to discuss what different bed friction means for where widening might occur and how pronounced it might be. We also discuss how our results could be tested against field data currently being acquired through the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration. There is an additional worry of trouble in East Antarctica after Kris Van Steeben provided satellite imagery of the Frost Glacier ice bridge breaking up near a steep slope on land. Unlike Thwaites, Frost glacier is above sea level resting on the bedrock of East Antarctica. The Thwaites glacier is below sea level where collapse would have a rebound effect in raising sea level. Frost glacier is part of the Porpoise Bay embayment. It is the largest glacier between the Cook-Ninnis-Mertz glacial system, which drains the Wilkes Subglglacial Basin and the Totten-MUIS (Moscow University Ice Shelf) glacial system, which drains the Aurora Subglacial Basin per Kris Van Steeben. All of the below glaciers are at risk of collapse. x We have to hope for the best. We have to prepare for the worst. --- Thwaites Glacier --- --- Frost Glacier (GIF) --- --- Pine Island Glacier --- --- Totten Glacier --- --- Denman Glacier --- --- Amery Ice Shelf --- --- Brunt Ice Shelf --- --- Cook-Ninnis-Mertz glacial field --- pic.twitter.com/8vehAsmUe2 — Kris Van Steenbergen (@KrVaSt) March 1, 2023 x --- Frost Glacier --- --- Porpoise Bay --- -- East Antarctica -- Frost Glacier is retreating close to the steep slope. Its entire calving front is losing grip. A loss of stability at the western & eastern flank seems to affect the central pinning point.https://t.co/jP1OLcFzli — Kris Van Steenbergen (@KrVaSt) March 26, 2023 [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/3/28/2160571/-New-research-on-West-Antarctica-s-Thwaites-glacier-finds-a-new-accelerant-of-ice-flow Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/