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Thwaites Glacier

The Thwaites Glacier is one of the hardest places in Antarctica to access, and scientists have only recently been able to go there to study it.

The melting and collapse of Thwaites Glacier could affect sea levels for years to come

Climate Change

Thwaites Glacier is considered the world’s most important one — not just due to its size, but because of the massive amounts of ice that will melt due to global warming.

Drone footage shows large icebergs that have recently broken off the ice shelf in West Antarctica.

If Thwaites Glacier collapses, it would change global coastlines forever

Joee Patterson is shown with her arms outstretched while wearing sunglasses and a red safety vest.

For this marine tech, Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier drives home threat of climate change

Into the Thaw: Decoding Thwaites Glacier
Two yellow tents and a larger dome tent are staked into the snow. At the top of the image is a wing of a tiny prop plane.

These scientists used small explosions to ‘see’ under Antarctica and measure how fast a key glacier will melt

Into the Thaw: Decoding Thwaites Glacier
The eastern ice tongue of Thwaites Glacier is shown rising out of deep blue ocean waters.

Is Thwaites Glacier doomed? Scientists race against time to find out.

Environment
The front of the Nathaniel B. Palmer ship is shown at the bottom of the photo breaking through ice floes.

Antarctica Dispatch 9: Thoughts on climate change and returning home

Into the Thaw: Decoding Thwaites Glacier

The researchers aboard the Nathaniel B. Palmer are excited to return home after spending weeks studying Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica. While the comfort of their own beds await, there’s also the important work of writing up their research findings.

Grease ice dampens ripples in the water near a golden orange sunset.

Antarctica dispatch 8: Behold grease, shuga and pancake ice

Into the Thaw: Decoding Thwaites Glacier

The research team aboard the Nathaniel B. Palmer is starting to wrap up their work studying Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica. As the Amundsen Sea starts to freeze up, the captain of the ship will be constantly on the lookout for gaps in the ice that will carry the ship home.

The eastern ice tongue of Thwaites Glacier is shown rising out of deep blue ocean waters.

Antarctica Dispatch 6: First sight of Thwaites — mapping uncharted seafloor

Into the Thaw: Decoding Thwaites Glacier

The Nathaniel B. Palmer arrived at Thwaites Glacier on Feb. 26, roughly a month after leaving Punta Arenas, Chile. During its first day in front of the glacier, the Palmer traced a roughly 100-mile path around the edge of Thwaites mapping portions of the sea floor that were previously uncharted.

glacier

What Thwaites Glacier can tell us about the future of West Antarctica

Into the Thaw: Decoding Thwaites Glacier

An international group of researchers launched a five-year, roughly $50 million project to study Thwaites Glacier, a remote, and notoriously foul-weathered, glacier in the middle of West Antarctica.

Thwaites Glacier

Just how unstable is the massive Thwaites glacier? Scientists are about to find out.

Environment

A new five-year US and British research project hopes to give policy makers a better sense of how much west Antarctica will drive rising seas.