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Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier ice shelf could collapse within five years

The loss of its buttressing ice shelf could hasten the demise of the “Doomsday Glacier”

photo of Thwaites Glacier

Thwaites Glacier (shown) poses the greatest near-term threat to sea level rise, scientists say. New data suggest that a buttressing ice shelf helping to slow the Florida-sized glacier’s slide into the sea may collapse within five years.

James Yungel/NASA

By Carolyn Gramling

- More than 2 years ago

Read another version of this article at Science News Explores

The demise of a West Antarctic glacier poses the world’s biggest threat to raise sea levels before 2100 — and an ice shelf that’s holding it back from the sea could collapse within three to five years, scientists reported December 13 at the American Geophysical Union’s fall meeting in New Orleans.