Giant cracks push imperilled Antarctic glacier closer to collapse

Giant fractures in the floating ice of Antarctica’s massive Thwaites Glacier — a fast-melting formation that has become an icon of climate change — could shatter part of the shelf within five years, research suggests. If that happens, in what had been considered a relatively stable part of Thwaites, the glacier could release an armada of icebergs and begin flowing much faster into the ocean, funnelling ice that had been resting on land into the sea, where it would contribute to sea-level rise.

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-03758-y