We mapped the geology below Thwaites Glacier | British Antarctic Survey

The ground beneath Antarctica’s most vulnerable glacier has been mapped for the first time, helping scientists to better understand how it is being affected by climate change. Analysis of the geology below the Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica shows there is less sedimentary rock than expected – a finding that could affect how the ice slides and melts in the coming decades.

“Sediments allow faster flow, like sliding on mud,” says Dr Tom Jordan, who is a geophysicist with the British Antarctic Survey, who led the study. “Now we have a map of where the slippery sediments are, we can better predict how the glacier will behave in future as it retreats.”

Thwaites Glacier, covering 192,000 square kilometres (74,000 square miles) - an area the size of Florida or Great Britain - is particularly susceptible to climate and ocean changes. Computer models show that over the next several decades, the glacier may lose ice rapidly, as ice retreats. Already, ice draining from Thwaites into the Amundsen Sea accounts for about four percent of global sea-level rise. A run-away collapse of the glacier would contribute around an additional 65cm (25 inches) to sea-level rise over the coming centuries.

➡ Read this news story on the British Antarctic Survey website:
https://www.bas.ac.uk/media-post/ground-beneath-thwaites-glacier-mapped-for-first-time/

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This work forms part of the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration (ITGC), a $50 million joint U.S. and U.K. mission to learn more about Thwaites Glacier, its past, and what the future may hold. 
Find out more here: www.thwaitesglacier.org

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