Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

CRYOSPHERIC SCIENCE

Thwaites Glacier and the bed beneath

Nature Geoscience volume 15, pages 687–688 (2022)Cite this article

Subjects

Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica is losing mass and has the potential to cause substantial sea level rise. New seabed imagery indicates that the glacier previously retreated at double its current rate, implying that mass loss could accelerate in the near future.

Access through your institution
Buy or subscribe

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Access through your institution

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Schematic of Thwaites Glacier in two stages of retreat due to an influx of warm ocean waters onto the continental shelf.

References

  1. Fox-Kemper, B. et al. Ocean, Cryosphere and Sea Level Change. In Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis (eds Masson-Delmotte, V. et al.) (Cambridge University Press, 2021).

  2. Rignot, E. et al. PNAS 116, 1095–1103 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Naughten, K. A. et al. Geophys. Res. Lett. 49, e2021GL094566 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Graham, A. et al. Nat. Geosci. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-01019-9 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Goodell, J. The Doomsday Glacier. Rolling Stone https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/the-doomsday-glacier-113792/ (2017).

  6. Dowdeswell, J. A. et al. Science 368, 1020–1024 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Smith, J. A. et al. Nature 541, 77–80 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Holland, P. R., Bracegirdle, T. J., Dutrieux, P., Jenkins, A. & Steig, E. J. Nat. Geosci. 12, 718–724 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Paolo, F. S. et al. Nat. Geosci. 11, 121–126 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. dos Santos, T. D., Barnes, J. M., Goldberg, D. N., Gudmundsson, G. H. & Morlighem, M. Geophys. Res. Lett. 48, GL093102 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Fürst, J. J. et al. Nat. Climate Change 6, 479–482 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Wild, C. T. et al. The Cryosphere 16, 397–417 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Chown, S. L. et al. Antarctic Climate Change and the Environment (Cambridge, 2022).

  14. Stokes, C.R. et al. Nature 608, 275–286 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future, School of Earth Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University, Clayton, Australia

    Andrew Mackintosh

Authors
  1. Andrew Mackintosh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Andrew Mackintosh.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing interests

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Mackintosh, A. Thwaites Glacier and the bed beneath. Nat. Geosci. 15, 687–688 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-01020-2

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-01020-2

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing