“Even the most optimistic greenhouse gas emissions scenarios indicate that by 2050 humanity will likely be locked in to at least two meters of sea-level rise in the coming centuries. That will put the homes of at least 10 million people in the U.S. below the high tide line.”
This articles reviews the work of a $50 million partnership between the British National Environmental Research Council and the U.S. National Science Foundation to examine the Thwaites Glacier in the west of Antarctica.
The Thwaites Ice Shelf, on the edge of the Thwaites Glacier, is a giant floating slab of ice, almost 1,000 square kilometres in area and several hundred meters thick. And it is melting.
Since 1992, the Thwaites Glacier has lost more than one trillion tonnes of ice and it is currently losing an additional 75 billion tonnes each year. As this ice turns into water and flows into the ocean, it is a major driver of rising sea levels. And if this melting continues, the projections are incredibly dire.
“If the Thwaites Glacier collapses and destabilizes the heart of West Antarctica, then sea-level rise jumps to five meters, placing the homes of at least 20 million U.S. people and another 50 million to 100 million people worldwide below high tide.”
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