Transcript:
Hey. Good morning. This is Robert at English 360. And today we talk about Glacier. Glacier as the Americans like to call it. Basically, glaciers are big bodies of ice and they hold a lot of freshwater and scientists believe that it is catastrophic if they were to melt because the sea levels we don't see new rapidly. There is an article in the news which talks about Doomsday Glacier. It says there's a Doomsday Glacier, which could raise sea level by several feet, two three feet, basically about a half meter or more.
And it's trying to survive by its fingernails. Now, obviously, glaciers are not living animals. It's figurative. This glacier is on the edge. It may melt completely. And if it does, we will be in big trouble. Let's see why. Antarctica's so-called Doomsday Glacier, nicknamed because of its high risk of collapse and threat to global sea level, has the potential to rapidly retreat in the coming years, amplifying concerns over the extreme sea level rise that would accompany its potential demise.
Now, this is a difficult word to pronounce. The Thwaites glacier, capable of raising sea level by several feet, is eroding along its underwater base as the planet warms. In a study published Monday in the Journal Nature Geoscience. Scientists mapped the glacier's historical retreat, hoping to learn from its past what the glaciers will likely do in the future. They found that at some point in the past two centuries, the base of the glacier dislodged from the seabed and retreated at a rate of 1.3 miles or about two kilometres per year.
That's twice the rate that scientists have observed in the past decade or so. So basically this huge glacier, which is rooted to the seabed now, is starting to detach. And one basic problem is that if it detaches from the seabed, it's going to melt more quickly. That swift disintegration possibly occurred as recently as the mid-20th century, according to a study.
It suggests that Thwaites has the capability to undergo a rapid retreat in the near future once it recedes past a seabed ridge that is helping to keep it in. Thwaites is really holding on to today by its fingernails, and we should expect to see big changes over small timescales in the future, even from one year to the next.
once the glacier retreats beyond a shallow ridge in its bed. The Thwaites glacier located in West Antarctica, it's one of the widest on earth and is larger than the state of Florida. But it's just a fraction of the West Antarctic ice sheet, which holds enough ice to raise sea level by up to 16 feet or about five meters, according to NASA.
As the climate crisis has accelerated, this region has been closely monitored because of its rapid melting and its capacity for widespread coastal obstruction. The Thwaites glacier itself has concerned scientists for decades. As early as 1973, researchers questioned whether it was high risk of collapse. Nearly a decade later, they found that because that glacier is grounded to seabed rather than to dry land, well, ocean currents to melt the glacier from underneath, causing it to destabilize from below.
It was because of that research that scientists began calling the region around the Thwaites the weak underbelly of the West Antarctic ice sheet. In the 21st century. Researchers began documenting the Thwaites rapid retreat in an alarming series of studies. In 2001, satellite data showed the grounding line was receding by around 0.6 miles or about one kilometer per year.
In 2020 scientists found evidence that warm water was indeed flowing across the base of the glacier, melting it from underneath. And in 2021, a study showed that Thwaites ice shelf, which helps to stabilize the glacier and hold the ice back from flowing freely into the ocean could shatter within five years. From the satellite data we're seeing these big fractures spreading across the ice shelf surface, essentially weakening the fabric of the ice, kind of a bit like a windscreen crack slowly spreading across the ice shelf, and eventually it's going to fracture into lots of different pieces.
Monday's findings, which suggest that Thwaites is capable of receding at a much faster pace than recently thought, were documented on a 20 hour mission in extreme conditions that mapped an underwater area the size of Houston, according to a new release. So there we have it. Basically this massive Armageddon of glacier or glacier like Americans like to call it is slowly melting.
If it melts, catastrophe will take place literally. When glacier stored, fresh water is released to the sea and atmosphere. It brings about massive changes. It threatens agriculture, power generation and drinking water supplies. A study on New Zealand's glaciers has shown that glacier retreat closely tracks atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and as glaciers continue to melt, their loss will impact supplies of fresh water for drinking and a host of other human activities.
This is how they can affect people around the world. Populous Asian countries such as China and India get much of the late summer river flow volume they rely on from glacier meltwater. In dry periods, the population of La Paz, Bolivia, relies heavily upon glacial meltwater from an ice cap. Farmers in Switzerland, Rhone Valley, have relied upon glacial meltwater to irrigate their crops for centuries by channeling it to their farms.
Glacial meltwater drives, hydropower plants all around the world. Bottling companies package glacial mineral water, glacial melt water and even ice cubes made of glacial ice are in demand for specialty drinks. I mean, in essence, we rely on glaciers as a form of national water storage infrastructure. We don't have natural water. We don't have glaciers. They take on water in winter and release it evenly during warm months.
But if precipitation remains the same, does it really make a difference? Yes, because glacial ice, sequesters water in a way that prevents it from evaporating readily without glaciers even if precipitation remains constant in high mountainous areas, that water will remain in liquid form, subject to peak evaporation and runoff. Whichever way you look at it, glaciers are fundamental to our survival and it is alarming that we are losing them by kilometers every year because of global warming.
Big fossil fuel companies don't want you to think about this prospect of glacial melting. It goes against their profit, they would like you to use fossil fuels until they completely run out whether we are still able to live on this planet or not. It's up to us essentially to make those tough decisions. It's a very difficult prospect, but we must do our best.
With this, we end it here. I hope you like this podcast. You will find a video version of it on YouTube with subtitles, and you will find the text in the description in the podcast as well. Have a nice fun and make sure you do your best to keep the climate as cool as possible. Take care for now. Peace!
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Robert Islam
✔ Graduate University of London BA English Literature
✔ CELTA & DELTA Cambridge University
✔ Reviewer for Objective FCE Series
✔ English teacher in Rome and London Since 2002
✔ Exam trainer for the full suite of Cambridge English Exams
✔ Exam trainer for IELTS
✔ Exam trainer for TOEFL
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