• iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • Australia
    • Ireland
    • World News
    • Weird News
    • Viral News
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Science
    • True Crime
    • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV & Film
    • Netflix
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • TikTok
  • LAD Originals
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • Lad Files
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Extinct
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube

LAD Entertainment

YouTube

LAD Stories

Submit Your Content
A Giant Iceberg Is Hampering Scientists From Studying The ‘Doomsday Glacier’

Home> News

Updated 08:59 15 Feb 2022 GMTPublished 00:19 4 Feb 2022 GMT

A Giant Iceberg Is Hampering Scientists From Studying The ‘Doomsday Glacier’

The glacier's destruction will 'rewrite the global coastline'.

Vivienne Kelly

Vivienne Kelly

A team of scientists attempting to study Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica is reportedly being blocked by a giant iceberg.

Thwaites Glacier has been nicknamed the 'Doomsday Glacier' due to the catastrophic impact it would have if it continues to deteriorate and melt due to climate change.

In January, a research mission using a fleet of underwater robots set off to determine the glacier's impact on global sea-level rises.

The mission forms part of the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration (ITGC), a five-year, US$50 million joint mission between the US and the UK.

According to the ITGC, the glacier covers 192,000 square kilometres, which is equivalent to around the size of Great Britain or Florida.

National Snow and Ice Data Center

The organisation said a runaway collapse of the glacier would contribute to an additional 65 centimetre sea-level rise over the coming centuries.

New York University environmental scientist David Holland - who planned to drill into the ice shelf to measure the water's temperature below it - said over time the glacier's destruction would 'rewrite the global coastline'.

Professor Karen Heywood from the University of East Anglia, who is also the UK lead on the ITGC TARSAN project, said at the outset that it is a 'massively ambitious' mission.

"We will deploy two big underwater robots underneath the ice to collect detailed data from this crucial area of the glacier that will enable us to understand what will happen in the future," she said.

"By measuring the ocean properties in sub-ice shelf cavities, we can understand how the ocean transports heat and what impact this may have on the glacier. I and my team back at UEA are going to be remotely piloting the six ocean gliders, smaller robots, once the scientists on board launch them into the water."

Reports are now emerging, however, that the scientists' efforts are being thwarted by a large iceberg which broke off the deteriorating glacier.

Along with sea ice, the iceberg is now blocking two research ships from examining how fast the ice shelf is falling apart, according to the Associated Press.

Officials said this hasn't stopped the mission, but it has been sidetracked. Holland reportedly said nobody can get to Thwaites this year.

Featured Image Credit: NASA ICE / James Yungel

Topics: climate change, News

Vivienne Kelly
Vivienne Kelly

Choose your content:

12 hours ago
13 hours ago
14 hours ago
  • 12 hours ago

    Why people get strange white bumps all over their body including private parts

    If you've noticed white bumps on your body and private parts, you've come to the right place

    News
  • 13 hours ago

    Why most expensive item in the world is worth £49,000,000,000,000 for just one gram

    The most expensive item in the world is said to be worth roughly £49 trillion per gram

    News
  • 13 hours ago

    US Air Force shares truth behind 'highly unusual' flight from Donald Trump's 'doomsday plane'

    The doomsday plane was spotted in American skies this week and an explanation has finally been given

    News
  • 14 hours ago

    Woman explains why she lives in same house with her husband, ex-partner and their kids in bizarre situation

    A mum is living in a South Carolina home with her children, her ex-husband and her current husband

    News