<
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/doomsday-glacier-thwaites-antarctica-climate-crisis-1273841/>
"One thing that’s hard to grasp about the climate crisis is that big changes
can happen fast. In 2019, I was aboard the
Nathaniel B. Palmer, a
308-foot-long scientific research vessel, cruising in front of the Thwaites
Glacier in Antarctica. One day, we were sailing in clear seas in front of the
glacier. The next day, we were surrounded by icebergs the size of aircraft
carriers.
As we later learned from satellite images, in a matter of 48 hours or so, a
mélange of ice about 21 miles wide and 15 miles deep had cracked up and
scattered into the sea.
It was a spooky moment. Thwaites Glacier is the size of Florida. It is the cork
in the bottle of the entire West Antarctic ice sheet, which contains enough ice
to raise sea levels by 10 feet. The mélange that disintegrated was not part of
the glacier itself, but a mix of icebergs and sea ice that had cozied up next
to it. Still, the idea that it could just fall apart overnight was
mind-blowing."
Via 7B'JaJaDa.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
