Home / Weather News /

Melting glaciers - How early did Antarctica ice melt start?

01:00 PM
March 2, 2024

Melting glaciers
How early did Antarctica ice melt start?

Thwaite glacierA file view of the Thwaite glacier

The vast Thwaites glacier in western Antarctica has been melting rapidly for almost a century, new research shows.

The 80-mile-wide glacier has been rapidly melting since at least the early 1940s. It is now losing an estimated 50 billion tons of ice more than the snow that falls on it each year.

An international research team led by researchers at the University of Houston used Amundsen Sea sea-sediment collected near the glacier along with radioactive dating and the El Nino climate data to determine when the glacier’s melting began. They believe a strong El Nino event from 1939 to 1942 warmed the west Antarctic Ocean, sparking the rapid melting of the glacier.

This melting, accelerating due to climate change warming, is contributing to 4 percent of the global sea-level rise. In the last decade, sea levels have risen by about a tenth of an inch per year. If the Thwaites glacier was to collapse and melt completely, it would raise the global sea level by more than 2 feet.

Additionally, the glacier is holding back the West Antarctica ice sheet. If this glacier was to fail, a broader ice sheet could shift and begin to melt into the Antarctic Ocean, increasing sea levels even further.

The study of this glacier is critical to understand possible effects of climate change and how it will affect sea-level rise.

James West
More on the topic
Saturday, May 3, 2025

May astronomy outlook

Meteor shower and the Flower Moon
shutterstock-4th of July
Friday, July 4, 2025

249 years ago weather!

July 4, 1776 weather history
Saturday, April 26, 2025

Off the coast of Sardinia

Waterspout seen from cruise ship
All weather news
This might also interest you
Friday, July 11, 2025

Daily briefing

Severe storms possible for Great Lakes, Cali's heat
Monday, July 14, 2025

Spots with +7'' of rain

Flash flood risk for parts of Florida
Tuesday, July 8, 2025

Daily briefing

Fronts stay north, plenty of Gulf moisture for South
All articles
Weather & Radar

www.weatherandradar.com

instagramfacebookthreadsContact uslinkList
Privacy policy | Legal info | Accessibility statement