Overview
- Satellite analysis of 2002–2022 imagery finds the total fractured area on Thwaites’ ice shelf roughly doubled, with cracks concentrating around a shear zone upstream of a key pinning point.
- Researchers report shorter average fracture lengths even as total fractured extent grows, a pattern they say signals new stresses reshaping the shelf’s structure.
- Field and modeling work highlight warm, salty currents and swirling eddies undercutting the shelf on timescales of hours to days, accelerating melt beneath the ice.
- Scientists describe a mixing feedback where cold meltwater stirs with warmer ocean water to boost turbulence and further melting, a process expected to intensify as oceans warm.
- The ITGC says retreat has accelerated over recent decades and warns of high long‑term sea‑level risk—potentially up to about 11 feet with major destabilization—while timing remains uncertain despite some media projections of a 2032 ice‑shelf failure.