These margins have so far never been studied directly, due to the logistical challenges of working in such a remote region of Antarctica.
- Poul Christoffersen
The collapse of the Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica could significantly affect global sea levels. It already drains an area roughly the size of Britain or the US state of Florida, accounting for around four percent of global sea-level rise —an amount that has doubled since the mid-1990s.
As part of a new £20 million research collaboration, the UK Natural Environment Research Council and the US National Science Foundation will deploy scientists to gather the data needed to understand whether the glacier’s collapse could begin in the next few decades or centuries.
NERC and NSF have jointly funded eight large-scale projects that will bring together leading polar scientists in one of the most inhospitable regions of the planet. The programme, called the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration (ITGC), is the largest joint project undertaken by the two nations in Antarctica for more than 70 years - since the conclusion of a mapping project on the Antarctic Peninsula in the late 1940s.
In addition to the £20 million-worth ($25 million) of awards to the research teams, the logistics of mounting a scientific campaign in one of the most remote places in Antarctica could cost as much again in logistical support. The nearest permanently occupied research station to the Thwaites Glacier is more than 1600km away, so getting the scientists to where they need to be will take a massive joint effort from both nations. While researchers on the ice will rely on aircraft support from UK and US research stations, oceanographers and geophysicists will approach the glacier from the sea in UK and U.S. research icebreakers.
Dr Poul Christoffersen from the University of Cambridge’s Scott Polar Research Institute is co-leading one of the eight projects with Professor Slawek Tulaczyk from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Their project, Thwaites Interdisciplinary Margin Evolution (TIME) also includes researchers from the University of Leeds, Stanford University, the University of Texas and the University of Oklahoma. The team will investigate how the margins of the drainage basin will evolve and influence ice flow over the coming decades.
Image: Reconnaissance flight over the Thwaites glacier
Credit: US National Science Foundation/US Antarctic Program
Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge