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“Glacier of the apocalypse": Engineers may have the solution to prevent its collapse

But when? No one knows. The global consequences of the collapse of the “doomsday glacier”, or Thwaites Glacier, will be unprecedented, leading to “a rise in sea levels of around 3 meters”, reports Futura-Sciences. The solution? Engineers are planning to build metal underwater curtains to avert the catastrophe and slow the melting of the ice. 

The oceans are warming... Sea currents are eroding glaciers, threatening them with total collapse. With terrible repercussions for the planet. 

It was writer Jeff Goodell who dubbed the Thwaites glacier the “glacier of the apocalypse” in 2017. It's “a gigantic glacier located in the western part of Antarctica. Its dimensions: 600 kilometers long, 120 kilometers wide and 1 kilometer thick, equivalent to the surface area of a country such as Ireland”. So let's imagine Ireland underwater, completely dissolved in the ocean. This is a scene that will become reality if the urgency of the situation isn't addressed by those in power.  

Faulty protection 

Global warming, the result of man-made greenhouse gas emissions, is inevitably causing warm, salty seawater to flow into the ocean. This phenomenon is colliding with the ice walls that previously protected the edge of the Thwaites Plateau from collapse. Failing to protect the glacier will plunge the world underwater. 

As Futura-Sciences reports, the Thwaites is also subject to structural weaknesses: in 2019, an enormous cavity was discovered beneath the glacier, weakening the edifice. According to a study, “crevasses causing visible cracks in the glacier” have been identified “and 50-70% of them could fracture in the coming years by filling with water”. On a global scale, the melting of the doomsday glacier has already contributed to 4% of sea-level rise. The rate of melting is set to accelerate over time.

Glaciologists estimate that the glacier could disappear altogether within the next few centuries. “Its collapse alone would raise sea levels by 50 centimetres, displacing 97 million people. With, as Futura-Sciences points out, an unprecedented domino effect and a cascade of melting that could raise sea levels by a further 3 metres, hence it being named as the glacier of the apocalypse. The consequences? Accelerated global warming, an impediment to climate regulation (ice reflects 95% of the sun's rays) and the release of CO2 that has been trapped within it for years. 

The iron wall

Geo-engineering researcher at the University of Lapland and glaciologist John Moore unveils his project for underwater curtains to prevent seawater from melting glaciers. These metal walls are 100 kilometers long and “block the flow of warm currents towards the Thwaites to stop the melting and give the ice shelf time to recover”. A one-meter-long prototype is currently being tested by researchers at Cambridge University in England. Does it work? Once demonstrated, they'll move on to trials in the River Cam (Cambridge), and if all goes well, “they could be testing a set of 10-metre-long curtain prototypes in a Norwegian fjord by 2025”.

This is the first wall in history that won't be the result of conflict between peoples and won't divide anyone!

(MH with AsD - Source: Futura-Science - Illustration: Pixabay)

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