3 ms·

If the Thwaites Glacier melts fully, it would produce a 2ft rise or about 0.6M. If all of the adjacent glaciers it currently prevents the sea from reaching wer

If the Thwaites Glacier melts fully, it would produce a 2ft rise or about 0.6M. If all of the adjacent glaciers it currently prevents the sea from reaching were to then also melt, then you would get an estimated sea level rise of 2.4 additional meters according to NASA. So it's 200-1000 years for the Thwaites Glacier, and probably several thousand more for the rest of them assuming some other warming effect doesn't dramatically result in the speed up of glacial melt. "About the size of Florida, Thwaites Glacier is currently responsible for approximately 4 percent of global sea level rise. It holds enough ice to raise the world ocean a little over 2 feet (65 centimeters) and backstops neighboring glaciers that would raise sea levels an additional 8 feet (2.4 meters) if all the ice were lost"

anigbrowl 8y ago
It's worth bearing in ind that other things are going to be melting at the same time.
- Junk_Collector 8y ago
  Agreed, but I think it's worth keeping some perspective when people are calling this things like, "The Doomsday Glacier" and discussing whether or not this will make it safe to move to South Florida presumably in response to the projected 3M rise.
  - amanaplanacanal 8y ago
    I think the idea here is that it doesn't even have to melt. If water gets underneath it so it floats, it will have the same effect.
    - Junk_Collector 8y ago
      Sure. I shouldn't have termed it as all of the ice melting. I believe the term the paper uses is actually ice-shelf destabilization which is a combination of wash out, melting, calving, etc. leading to all of the ice winding up in the ocean or floating due to retreat of the ground line by melt underneath the glacier. It's happening much faster than previously thought because we didn't have a good way of measuring or modelling it until recently. One of the major concerns is that we don't have a way of preventing melt of the under ice that is causing this because it is caused by oceanic effects. Warming oceans will exacerbate this. However, Here is the main take away from the abstract. "Antarctica will irrevocably contribute at least 3 m to global sea-level rise during the coming centuries to millennia." That's very fast on a geological timeline but not on a human timeline and it assumes a total loss of the West Antarctica Ice shelf. There are plenty of problems we should be worrying about, many of which are climate related, but there is no use in people here worrying themselves about this specific problem unless they have an interest in glacier science and certainly it shouldn't be impacting their assessment of whether they want to move to Miami in the next 10 years.

anigbrowl 8y ago

It's worth bearing in ind that other things are going to be melting at the same time.

Junk_Collector 8y ago
Agreed, but I think it's worth keeping some perspective when people are calling this things like, "The Doomsday Glacier" and discussing whether or not this will make it safe to move to South Florida presumably in response to the projected 3M rise.
- amanaplanacanal 8y ago
  I think the idea here is that it doesn't even have to melt. If water gets underneath it so it floats, it will have the same effect.
  - Junk_Collector 8y ago
    Sure. I shouldn't have termed it as all of the ice melting. I believe the term the paper uses is actually ice-shelf destabilization which is a combination of wash out, melting, calving, etc. leading to all of the ice winding up in the ocean or floating due to retreat of the ground line by melt underneath the glacier. It's happening much faster than previously thought because we didn't have a good way of measuring or modelling it until recently. One of the major concerns is that we don't have a way of preventing melt of the under ice that is causing this because it is caused by oceanic effects. Warming oceans will exacerbate this. However, Here is the main take away from the abstract. "Antarctica will irrevocably contribute at least 3 m to global sea-level rise during the coming centuries to millennia." That's very fast on a geological timeline but not on a human timeline and it assumes a total loss of the West Antarctica Ice shelf. There are plenty of problems we should be worrying about, many of which are climate related, but there is no use in people here worrying themselves about this specific problem unless they have an interest in glacier science and certainly it shouldn't be impacting their assessment of whether they want to move to Miami in the next 10 years.