According to scientists collecting Data said that the Deep channels discovered under the Antarctic’s so-called ‘Doomsday glacier’ may be allowing warm ocean water to melt the underside of ice. The findings published in The Cryosphere journal show the ocean floor is deeper than previously thought, with more deep channels leading towards the grounding line, where the ice meets the bed.Ice draining from the gigantic Thwaites Glacier into the Amundsen Sea in West Antarctica already accounts for about 4 per cent of global sea-level rise, and scientists say it is highly susceptible to climate change.
Over the past three decades, the rate of ice loss from Thwaites, which is about the size of Britain or the Australian state of Victoria, and its neighbouring glaciers has increased more than five-fold. If Thwaites were to collapse, it could lead to an increase in sea levels of around 64cm – and the researchers are trying to find out how soon this is likely to happen.Scientists from the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration (ITGC) collected data by flying over the glacier in a British Antarctic Survey (BAS) Twin Otter aircraft and mapping the sea floor from the US Antarctic Program icebreaker RV Nathaniel B. Palmer.The cavities hidden beneath the ice shelf are likely to be the route through which warm ocean water passes underneath the ice shelf up to the grounding line, they said.
