Scientists set up camp on 'Doomsday Glacier', but they are on a tight deadline: Here is why it matters

Scientists have managed to establish human presence on the Thwaites Glacier to understand everything about it before it vanishes. Also known as Doomsday Glacier, Thwaites is melting extremely fast and is estimated to disappear fully by the early 22nd century. The New York Times reported, that a camp was set up on the glacier on January 19, with roughly 17 tons of gear and drilling personnel ready to look deep inside it. The expedition aims to drill a hole in the ice and place instruments in the warming ocean waters below. This will reveal to the world how the sea is slowly killing the massive glacier. The program will continue for the next few weeks and won't be an easy one. Reaching the glacier was itself an arduous affair because of the weather. Although the researchers reached Thwaites earlier this month, helicopters from the ship could not land them on the glacier because of the invisibility caused by the clouds over the ice. But a lucky break in the weather allowed them to land cargo and erect a campsite.

Also Read: Major catastrophe unfolding in Antarctica as hundreds of earthquakes slam Doomsday Glacier

Setting camp on Thwaites Glacier - Why it matters

The 10-member team does not have a lot of time on Thwaites and must battle the bad weather to finish their task - place monitoring equipment inside the glacier. Their ship, Araon, needs to leave for New Zealand by February 7 as it has another Antarctic voyage to take. Setting up on the glacier would have taken a week, which leaves them with only about 10-12 days. One of the team members told the outlet that it is important to stay safe, and they are hopeful of returning with "some hard-hitting scientific results that speak about our planet." If the scientists are successful in placing the equipment, they would be able to gather data on the sea temperature and the thinning ice remotely.

What will happen if Doomsday Glacier collapses

If the Doomsday Glacier collapses entirely, global sea levels could rise by 10 feet. Fresh studies have also shown that the glacier has been struck by hundreds of iceberg earthquakes between 2010 and 2023, making it extremely unstable. According to a study published in Geophysical Research Letters, 362 glacial earthquakes were recorded in Antarctica during this time period, and 245 of them slammed the Doomsday Glacier. Such tremors, known as glacial earthquakes, were first detected in 2003 along the coast of Greenland. They occur when large icebergs collapse. Scientists assumed that they were happening in Antarctica, but their lower magnitude made them hard to detect.