A large scientific expedition comprising 32 researchers began today (Thursday) a two-month research trip to the giant Thwaites Glacier located in the western part of the continent in the Amundsen Sea.
The huge glacier, dubbed the Doomsday Glacier, is the size of the state of Florida in the United States and it is very important to understand its rate of melting and the penetration of water from it into the sea due to global warming. This will result in a sea level rise of 65 inches.
Due to its accelerated mass in recent years, the scientific world is concerned and many scientists are interested in examining the glacier.
To that end, a huge $ 50 million delegation has now set out, funded by the United States and the United Kingdom, among others.
This is not a simple journey and research in difficult conditions, because the huge glacier is in a very remote area of the continent and there is no research station of any country in its vicinity.
Researcher member of the research delegation Anna Vahlin, an oceanographer from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, said yesterday in an interview from the research ship Nathaniel B.
Palmer, who was about to set sail from Chile, because "The Waites Glacier, is one of the most important variables regarding the question of rising ocean levels in the coming years. However because of its location and because it is difficult to reach we have uncertainty in all forecasts "What is the situation? It may be unstable and that is a big source of concern."
The huge glacier Thwaites, its melting will lead to a rise of over half a meter in the sea, Photo: AP
It is important to understand that the glacier is already dumping 50 billion tons of ice into the sea every year and is now responsible for 4 percent of the world's sea level rise.
In this regard, researcher Ted Scambus says that "the fear is that the conditions around the glacier will lead to an acceleration of its melting."
"The glacier weakens in several ways - it loses its grip on the ground, slides slowly into the sea and melts. This is how it cracks and parts of it fall into the sea. We have indications of huge fragments 10 km in size," explained researcher Erin Petit, of the University of Oregon.
It is important to note that so far the glacier has never been studied in relation to its melting and its effect on the sea surface.
The one who started the study is Anna Wahlin, who in 2019 operated remotely controlled devices in which ships with diving capabilities surveyed the vicinity of the giant glacier.
The team will now study the temperature of the water around the glacier, map the fragments that exist in it and examine a variety of aspects of its connection to the land and ocean.
Either way, scientists point out that Thweights is different from other glaciers because it is jagged and mountainous and in fact these are huge sections of ice that have been compressed together, so it is not as smooth and straight as the rest of the classic ice continents.
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