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The flow of geothermal heat makes matters worse.
To make it worse
Thwaites Glacier (aka the “Last Judgment Glacier”) melts quickly. It is not a surprise.
It is also melting particularly quickly, in part due to man-made climate change. It is also not surprising.
What is surprising is a new study published in Nature which revealed that the Earth’s natural heat also accelerates the melting of glaciers. In fact, researchers say the relatively thin crust beneath West Antarctica (where the Doomsday Glacier is located) exposes the glacier to higher geothermal temperatures.
“Our measurements show that where the earth’s crust is only 17 to 25 kilometers thick, a geothermal heat flux of up to 150 milliwatts per square meter can occur under the Thwaites Glacier,” Ricarda Dziadek, lead author of the study and geophysicist at the Alfred Wegener Institute. , Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research in Germany, said in a statement obtained by LiveScience.
Add it to the stack
Of course, the warmer temperatures from the Earth’s inner mantle aren’t the only hurdles the Doomsday Glacier faces.
On top of that, there is the problem of man-made climate change which is gradually warming the waters. Researchers at Gothenburg University have discovered that the waters beneath the glacier are so hot that they wear out the ice faster than expected due to rising global temperatures.
True to its name, if the Doomsday Glacier melts, it will lead to a catastrophic increase in water levels around the world. After all, the Thwaites Glacier spans approximately 119,300 square miles. Hopefully something like the recent development of “green steel” prompts us to do more about it.
READ MORE: Antarctica’s ‘Doomsday Glacier’ Wages In Unseen Battle With Inner Earth, New Study Finds [LiveScience]
Learn more about Doomsday Glacier: Scientists find ‘Doomsday Glacier’ more unstable than ever
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