Geological History Constraints on the Magnitude of Grounding-Line Retreat in the Thwaites Glacier System (GHC)

GHC will gather information about past ice sheet behavior and relative sea level change in the Thwaites Glacier system. Determining the timing and magnitude of past episodes of thinning and retreat and subsequent re-advance is important to provide a context for the current and future behavior of Thwaites Glacier and its influence on global sea level.


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GHC update from the field 29 Dec 2019

The GHC team in the Hudson Mountains seem to have all the luck with weather and logistics this year. The team, consisted of two scientists, Professor John Woodward, a glaciologist and geophysicist from Northumbria University and Dr Jo Johnson, a geologist from the British Antarctic Survey, supported by two Field Guides, Ash Fusiarski and Tom King.

Related News

The West Antarctic Ice Sheet is shrinking, with many glaciers across the region retreating and melting at an alarming rate. However, this was not always the case according to new research published April 28, 2023, in the journal The Cryosphere. A team of scientists from ITGC discovered that the ice sheet near Thwaites Glacier was thinner in the last few thousand years than it is today. This unexpected find shows that glaciers in the region were… more
Two crucial glaciers in West Antarctica may be losing ice faster than they have over the last 5,000 years, according to a new study published June 2022.
The sheer scale of the glacier captivated Ted Scambos as he looked on from his plane window, thousands of feet above the ice. The widest glacier in the world, the frozen white Antarctic landscape of Thwaites seemed to stretch on forever—an area as large as Florida, and a mile or more thick.

A team of over 20 polar scientists from the UK, US and Sweden set sail this week (29 January) on the first ship-based research expedition to Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica as part of the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration.