DOOMSDAY GLACIER

Subject: Geography

Context: Ice shelves including Antarctica’s ‘Doomsday Glacier’ at risk of collapse.

Concept:

Thwaites or Doomsday Glacier is 120 km wide glacier at its broadest, fast-moving and melting fast over the years.
Because of its size (1.9 lakh sq.km.), it contains enough water to raise the world sea level by more than half a metre.
The amount of ice flowing out of this glacier has nearly doubled over the past three decades.
Its melting contributes 4% to global sea level rise each year, which has been a cause of alarm for scientists.
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.