But the bigger worry is that this glacier buttresses the entire West Antarctic ice sheet. That is worrying enough in the context of the 19-cm rise in the whole of the 20th century. On its own, its collapse would raise seas by around 65 centimetres. It is shedding a dizzying 35 billion tonnes a year. While it has been shrinking since the early 1990s, ice loss has almost doubled over the past 20 years. This vast glacier is about the size of Great Britain. A collapse could raise sea level by as much as three feet. And it has a nickname: the Doomsday Glacier. ThwaiteвЂ™s Glacier covers an area as big as Florida. And the glacier could add a lot more to the oceans in the decades ahead. ThatвЂ™s raised global sea level by a few millimeters. According to The International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration, Thwaites has lost an estimated 1,000 billion tonnes. The reason why is simple: Thwaites is a potential climate time bomb that we need to learn much more about. More than a trillion tons of its ice have melted since 2000. The Doomsday glacier has changed more radically than any other ice sheet and ocean system in Antarctica during the last decade, owing to human-induced climate chang e and rising temperature in the EarthвЂ™s atmosphere and seas. By the end of this month, 100 will have visited. Until now, fewer than 50 people have been to this part of West Antarctica, less than have been to space. On the bright side, it was mercifully mild, at -5вЊ. The Thwaites Glacier, nicknamed the 'doomsday' glacier, is losing ice at a rate not seen in more than 5,500 years, according to a new study, raising concerns about the Florida-sized glacier's.

Strong winds had pounded them and it had snowed heavily, making the terrain even more perilous. At the time, she and three colleagues were alone, more than 1600 kilometres from the nearest research station. A Florida-sized glacier in the western Antarctic is currently holding back enough ice to raise sea levels around the world by 10 feet. The 21st century serves as an inflection point of acceleration of climate instability caused by human-generated greenhouse gases, as CO2 emissions. Adding 65cm to global sea levels would be coastline-changing amounts. The Doomsday Glacier Lives up to its Billing. And, worryingly, recent research suggests that its long-term stability is doubtful as the glacier haemorrhages more and more ice. At the current melting rate the of the two colossal glaciers could contribute as much as 3.4 metres to global sea level rise over the next several centuries. вЂњYOU are very aware that if something goes wrong, it goes very wrong very quickly,вЂќ says Joanne Johnson, speaking from her tent near Thwaites glacier in one of the remotest parts of Antarctica. T he massive Thwaites glacier in West Antarctica contains enough ice to raise global sea levels by 65cm if it were to completely collapse. The International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration Thwaites glacier acts as a buttress for 10 per cent of the ice that covers Antarctica