'Doomsday Glacier' Melting, Wildlife Dwindling: On the way to Climate Disaster

 

Climate Change:

Global Warming, Global Temperature Rising, Glaciers Melting, Sea Lever Water Rising,

Coastal Areas Drowning, Various species dying,

The World Is Moving, it should consider stopping,

Nature is throwing constant warning, it is time we consider waking,

Earth needs little care taking, otherwise the whole world would be shaking,

We would be died, and cockroaches would be existing.

                                                                                                 By: Bharat Parmar

The most vulnerable glacier of Antarctica, which is one of the remote areas of the planet where till date 28 people landed, is under threat

A place with such a level of vulnerability has become a hot topic of discussion because of its immense importance. We are talking about the Thwaites Glacier, which is a large piece of ice-mass. It is as huge as a Great Britain. The increasing global temperature is leading to the melting of this glacier. The intensity/rate of the melting of Thwaites glacier is relatively high. This will lead to the global sea-level rise which will directly impact the hydrological cycles of the planet.

 

About the Thawait

Thwaites glacier (75°30′S 106°45′W), also renowned as the Doomsday Glacier, is an extraordinarily large and Brobdingnagian Antarctic ice mass flowing into the Pine Island Bay, part of the explorer ocean, east of Mount Irish potato, on the Walgreen Coast of Marie Byrd Land.

Its surface speeds surpass 2km per annum (1.2 miles per year) close to its surface line. Its quickest flowing grounded ice is centered between 5100 kilometers (31 and 62 mi) east of Mount Irish potato.

Thwaites Glacier is closely examined for its possibility to raise ocean levels. At the side of the Pine Island ice mass, it has been delineated as a part of the "weak underbelly" of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, thanks to its apparent vulnerability to important retreat. This theory relies on each hypothetical study of the equanimity of marine ice sheets and interpretations of huge changes on these 2 glaciers.

 In recent years, the flow of each of those glaciers have accelerated, their surfaces have brought down, and their grounding lines have retreated.

Research Status

 The normal temperature of Doomsday is -40 degree Celsius, researches went in this abnormal condition to assess the impact of Global warming on Thwaites Glacier, to study its hydrology and monitoring of Glacier beds and to perform trend analysis.

It is really difficult to predict at what rate this glacier will melt or if the rate of melting will increase in the future or not, whether or not we can reverse its consequences, the behavior of the glacier, how much sea level will rise, and so on. These are the most unanswered questions, and everybody is puzzled today after analyzing the condition of Thwaites Glacier. According to the Scientists working there they state, A lot of it is not there anymore. Researchers call it unstable glacier; a lot of crevassing is visible while the aerial surveys.

The Glacier is alternating so fast that it will drain a lot of ice into the sea, the shape, structure, size, demography of the glacier is in that state if the glacier will melt, it will take most of the part of the Antarctica with it into the sea. This is the reason this is considered as a keystone Glacier of Antarctica. The Thwaites glacier has a key role in balancing the other subsequent glaciers of Antarctica, it is the supporting system for most of the ice mass of Antarctica.

The extremely magnificent multi-million dollar Project started with a collaboration between America and Britain, a project called “International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration”.  Now, a UK-US team has inspected the deep seafloor networks of the Glacier that just about certainly approach the entrance for warm water to intrude and infect Thwaites' side. "These channels had not been mapped before during this reasonable detail, and what we've discovered is that they are really a lot larger than anyone thought - up to 600m deep. consider six soccer pitches back to back," same Dr. Kelly Hogan from land Antarctic Survey (BAS). They have been trying hard to assess the impact of sea-level rise globally mainly cities of the USA and the Uk. According to their research till now, they have given data that around a cm to 10 cm sea-level rise can be seen in the future, this will change most of the biological cycles and patterns. 10cm seems to be small but the impact would not be that small for sure. Many parts of the world will receive frequent droughts that will damage infrastructure and ecological damage on the planet.

Behavioral study of the glacier is important to find out how it will be going to react after 10 years, as the consequence of Thwaites glacier melting would be devastating for us. The global temperature is increased by 1 degree Celsius by 2020 since 1880.

Have you ever thought why the glaciers are mostly impacted by global warming, Why the glaciers are melting at such an alarming rate? According to the Geologists: oceans warms up or absorbs warm air mostly which eventually leads to the warming of ice-mass as the oceans are lying adjacent to the glaciers. Due to global warming, the temperature rise is happening all over the world, but the earth does not warm evenly. The polar regions warm-up at a fast pace.  The boundaries of Thwaites Glacier and the ocean meet and the warm ocean which meets the rock bed of glaciers warms up the ice-mass which leads to the melting of Glacier on broader terms. So, it is better we should try to study its behavior of Thwaites Glacier now than regret tomorrow!

                                                               Glacier Melting 

Tool for polar monitoring

This tool is used to dwell deep into the ice, where nothing can reach. It has made possible with the invention of this cylindrical robot named Icefin. The robot has a camera, chemical sensors, sonar scanners. Its mission is to reach the bottom of the glacier to monitor the ice-melts of bedrocks, a place where most of the melting takes place.

Factors leading to the thwaites melting

·       Climate change is supposed to be altering breezes around Antarctica, which in turn are linked to a warming of the tropics and altering patterns of atmospheric circulation. The breezes lead ocean currents and the alter has meant that the warm offshore layer, called circumpolar deep water, has been pushing in closer to shore, where it can melt ice.

·       Carbon Emission: The carbon emissions are increasing, although with significant efforts by various stakeholders and people’s involvement in the Global Carbon Emission reduction mission. Still, there is a need to reduce emissions and work dedicatedly in this direction. The carbon emissions remain in the atmosphere for years and it cannot be disappeared easily, it is the leading cause for glacier melting.

·       Ocean Warming: Melting of Glaciers is taking place near the ocean shore, where the ice meets the sea. So, another villain is ocean warming, which is impacting the Glaciers.

The Glacier melting will cost us more than we are able to afford. The thwaite melting will lead to more coastal floods, various cities will be impacted, economical damage, infrastructure damage, biodiversity loss, more storm surges, destruction of the agricultural lands. So, there is an urgent need to develop infrastructure to combat such deadly consequences. The government should enforce strict policies to combat climate change and reduce carbon footprints.

Antarctica is home for Penguins, penguins are an important part of our biodiversity family. Due to global warming, they are facing habitat loss. The government and other stakeholders must work hard to take strict measures to protect their homeland.