Scientists studying Antarctica's vast Thwaites Glacier — nicknamed the Doomsday glacier — say warm water is seeping into its weak spots, worsening melting caused by rising temperatures, two papers published in the Nature journal showed on Wednesday.
Thwaites, which is roughly the size of Florida, represents more than half a meter of global sea level rise potential, and could destabilize neighboring glaciers that have the potential to cause a further 3 meter rise.
As part of the International Thwaites Glacier collaboration — the biggest field campaign ever attempted in Antarctica — a team of 13 U.S. and British scientists spent about six weeks on the glacier in late 2019 and early 2020.