Glaciologist Ananicheva told how the melting of the "Doomsday glacier" will turn out

On May 25, a leading researcher at the Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences, glaciologist Maria Ananicheva, in an interview with the Vesti News agency, named the figure of the rise of the World Ocean in the event of the complete destruction of the Thwaites Glacier. According to her, the process has accelerated fivefold over the past 30 years, but there is no need to fear a catastrophic scenario. All the details are in the Izvestia article.

What is the "Doomsday Glacier"?

Thwaites Glacier (also known as the "Doomsday Glacier") is located in West Antarctica. Its area is 192 thousand square kilometers, which is comparable to the territory of the Sverdlovsk region, and the thickness of the ice reaches 4 thousand meters. The glacier got its name in the press because of the potential threat posed by its melting. Together with the neighboring Pine Island Glacier, Thwaites forms a barrier preventing the melting of the entire West Antarctic Ice Sheet.

Melting accelerated, but not catastrophically

Ananicheva, commenting on reports of accelerated melting of the Thwaites Glacier, urged not to overestimate the scale of possible consequences. According to her, the melting process has indeed accelerated fivefold over the past 30 years. According to the expert, this is a consequence of global warming.

However, even in the case of complete destruction of the glacier, the level of the world's oceans will rise not by meters, as some fear, but by only 60 cm. Ananicheva stressed that this process will be very long and will take from 200 to 2 thousand years.

What can a person do?

Ananicheva noted that humans can hardly directly affect the rate of glacier melting, but they can try to slow down global warming. To do this, it is necessary to switch to other energy sources and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The expert urged not to relax and monitor the situation, which will depend on what happens to the climate as a whole.