Scientists Image Vast Subglacial Water System Underpinning West Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier

AUSTIN, Texas — In a development that will help predict potential sea level rise from the Antarctic ice sheet, scientists from The University of Texas at Austin's Institute for Geophysics have used an innovation in radar analysis to accurately image the vast subglacial water system under West Antarctica's Thwaites Glacier. They have detected a swamp-like canal system beneath the ice that is several times as large as Florida's Everglades. Figure showing the transition from swamp-like water to stream-like water beneath Thwaites Glacier, West Antarctica. University of Texas Institute for Geophysics. The findings, as described this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , use new observational techniques to address long-standing questions about subglacial water under Thwaites, a Florida-sized outlet glacier in the Amundsen Sea Embayment considered a key factor in projections of global sea level rise. On its own, Thwaites contains enough fresh water to raise oceans by about a meter, and it is a critical gateway to the majority of West Antarctica's potential sea level contribution of about 5 meters. The new observations suggest the dynamics of the subglacial water system may be as important as well recognized ocean influences in predicting the fate of Thwaites Glacier.