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Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier, the widest on Earth, is in trouble.
The glacier extends out into the Southern Ocean and is losing about 50 billion tons of ice per year, with that loss doubling over the last 30 years. In 2019, NASA scientists discovered a huge cavity beneath the glacier, about two-thirds the size of Manhattan, which could speed up the glacier’s demise. This week, researchers mapped the ocean floor in front of Thwaites, showing the glacier had rapidly retreated in the past — and suggesting a small kick might accelerate its retreat once more.
This is worrying. If Thwaites melts, sea levels would rise about 25 inches. Its demise could also destabilize the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, which locks away around 10 feet of sea level rise. That kind of melting would be catastrophic.
With every new study, we learn more about Thwaites’s vulnerability. And with every new study we see Thwaites back in the news cycle, largely thanks to its powerful and alarming nickname: “The Doomsday Glacier.”
But that nickname, though it has generated mountains of press exploring the fate of Thwaites, might actually do more harm than good. It’s a moniker glaciologists and scientists shy away from using — so why is it so pervasive in the mainstream press? Should we keep using it? And why does it matter?
On May 9, 2017, Rolling Stone published a deeply-researched and brilliantly-written piece about Thwaites by climate writer Jeff Goodell. It had a simple, powerful headline: “The Doomsday Glacier.” It’s perfect for the story. But the nickname stuck.
Today, publications repeat the line ad nauseum whenever a significant new study about Thwaites is published. Some stories suggest Thwaites is known as the Doomsday glacier in “scientific circles” because its disintegration could lead to catastrophic sea level rise of more than 3 to 10 feet. That’s not quite the case.
We don’t know for sure how Thwaites’ disintegration would change sea levels in the short-term. The glacier itself locks up about 25 inches of sea level rise, but most stories use the 3 to 10 feet range. This is actually referring to the entire West Antarctic Ice Sheet being lost.
And though extensive research shows Thwaites is in trouble, it’s not the scientists or glaciologists or polar experts that are throwing around the nickname. I spoke to a number of experts associated with glaciology and polar research who all highlighted the fate of Thwaites is increasingly concerning.
