Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf Shows Signs of Break-Up

Satellite images show large fractures forming around the pinning point and along the grounding line of the Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf. The shelf, roughly 1500 square kilometres in area and 350 metres thick, has thinned due to changes in ocean circulation and is now being pulled apart by shifts in ice-flow dynamics.

Researchers tracking the shelf report that its flow rate tripled between January 2020 and January 2026, reaching just over 2000 metres per year. In the past five months the rate has increased further. New rifts have also opened along the grounding line in recent years.

A study scheduled for publication shows that the flow of glacier ice previously held back by the shelf increased by about 33 per cent between January 2020 and 2026. Scientists state that the shelf has already lost most of its ability to slow the glacier.

Thwaites glacier is currently responsible for 4 per cent of global sea-level rise. Projections indicate that by 2067 the glacier could lose 190 gigatonnes of ice per year, a 30 per cent increase from current rates.

The loss of the ice shelf is expected to allow faster movement of ice from the glacier into the ocean. Researchers note that this process is gradual and will affect sea levels over decades rather than immediately. Ice shelves in the region have been destabilising since the 1990s. Similar changes are occurring at the adjacent Pine Island glacier.