University of Oregon University discovered that the Tagez Glacier, located in Western Antarctica, could lose stability in the near future and collapsed for five years. According to estimates, the full collapse of the Judgment Day glacier can lead to a dangerous increase in the global sea level by 0.6 meters. Researchers presented their conclusions at the conference of the American Geophysical Society.
Experts studied the part of the Taits Glacier, which partially relies on the seabed, that is, shelf. The Eastern Shelf Glacier (TEIS) supports one third of the Taits glacier himself, and its destruction will crack the ground into the sea and, as a result, an increase in the contribution to the rise in the sea level by 25 percent. Recent studies have shown that the shelf part is becoming weaker than the bottom of the shallow water.
Radar images obtained from Sentinel-1 satellite demonstrated the propagation of cracks from the land part to the center of the shelf part of the glacier at a speed of up to two kilometers per year. New data from satellites, georadars and GPS measurements show that if these cracks intersect with cracks located at the base of the glacier in the place where it is in contact with the seabed, then the collapse of TEIS will occur in a short time – in just five years. According to the conclusions of the authors of the work, the catastrophic process will become irreversible in the very near future.
Taits Glacier is called the Judgment Day Glacier due to the fact that the most fast-lived and unstable Glacier of Antarctica and already contributes to the rise in the sea level by four percent. It is believed that an increase in the water temperature, wash Antarctica, due to global warming, is capable of leading not only to the complete collapse of the glacier in the southern ocean, but also destabilize many other glaciers.