Local destabilization could cause complete loss of West Antarctic Ice Sheet

Science : Over the past two years, researchers have shown that the Thwaites Glacier has retreated significantly over the last 20 years; they cited warming seawater as the likely cause. The glacier appears to be held up by an underwater ledge, and models have suggested that when the glacier is no longer supported it will collapse into the ocean and seawater will flow into the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Most models have looked at the impact in the short term. Now Anders Levermann of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany and his colleagues have created a model that looks at the results of such glacier loss over hundreds to thousands of years. They found that the destabilization of the Amundsen Sea, even without additional climate changes caused by pollution, would ultimately result in the complete loss of the ice sheet in an unstoppable several-thousand-year process.