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New research on the Antarctic Ice Sheet describes that sea-level could rise 17-24 cm if the Paris Agreement goals are not met. If the world exceeds three degrees Celsius of global warming, there will be rapid and unstoppable sea-level rise by 2100 and if the rate of global warming continues on its current trajectory, a tipping point will be reached by 2060, past which these consequences would be “irreversible on multi-century timescales.”
Charlie Schoonman is a geophysicist and glaciologist working at the Alfred Wegener Institute. Her research focuses on investigating ice sheet dynamics using active and passive seismological techniques. As part of the GHOST team, she will assist with the acquisition and analysis of a seismic survey of Thwaites Glacier, using a vibrator source to create a continuous profile of the subsurface along the GHOST traverse.

Dorothée Vallot is a Postdoctoral researcher on the DOMINOS project. Based at the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI), oceanographic research group, she will spend part of her time at the Institut des Géosciences de l'Environnement (IGE) in Grenoble and at St Andrews University. The aim of her research project is to understand the processes involved at the ocean-ice interface of Thwaites glacier by coupling a continuum ice flow model (Elmer/Ice), a particle model (HiDEM) and an ocean model (NEMO).


For the first time, researchers have collected data from underneath the remote Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica using an underwater robot. Findings reveal that the supply of warm water to the glacier is larger than previously thought, triggering concerns of faster melting and accelerating ice flow. The findings are published this week (10 April 2021) in the journal Science Advances.

Louise Borthwick is a PhD student at Temple University using seismic and gravity techniques to study the distribution of geologic structures under Thwaites. She hopes to understand how these form and potentially link them to tectonic processes. Improved understand of how tectonic affects ice dynamics on Thwaites will help improve predictions of sea level rise from ice sheet models.

Ryan Venturelli is a professor and researcher at the Colorado School of Mines and principal investigator on the GHC project. She is measuring in situ cosmogenic 14C in sub-ice bedrock cores to determine if and when Thwaites Glacier was smaller than at present during the recent geologic past.

Keir Nichols is a Post Doctoral researcher on the GHC project, based at Imperial College London. He is measuring short- and long-lived cosmogenic nuclides in sub-Thwaites bedrock cores with the aim of working out if the glacier has been thinner in the recent, and more distant, past.

His research is focused on modelling and observing the flow of ice and water in ice sheets and glaciers. More details can be found on his website. His role on GHOST is to co-lead the collection and analysis of phase-sensitive radar data to better understand how Thwaites Glacier flows over its bed.