To honor Pakalolo, Friends of Gaia Present News from Antarctica: Thwaites update. The Doomsday Glacier is soon doomed. buynott & NBF (w birches, coolspring & spec. guest 🙂

Key Points:

• The Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica is undergoing critical structural failures, with the Eastern Ice Shelf breaking up and the glacier’s "tongue" showing major rifting, signaling imminent rapid disintegration.
• The Eastern Ice Shelf, which has acted as a stabilizing buffer for millennia, is no longer effectively restraining the glacier, accelerating its movement into the ocean and contributing to potential global sea level rise of up to two feet.
• Rising ocean and atmospheric temperatures are causing meltwater to lubricate the glacier’s bedrock interface, further destabilizing the ice sheet and increasing the rate of ice loss through calving and rifting.
• Satellite imagery and expert analyses indicate that the glacier has likely detached from key grounding points, reducing back-stress on the ice and increasing the risk of large-scale iceberg calving and ice cliff formation.
• The situation at Thwaites Glacier is a major climate crisis event with global implications, yet research efforts are hampered by political decisions that have limited access to vital Antarctic research infrastructure.