Thwaites Interdisciplinary Margin Evolution - The Role of Shear Margin Dynamics in the Future Evolution of Thwaites Drainage Basin (TIME)

TIME is an ice-based project using state-of-the-art geophysical techniques to observe rapidly deforming parts of Thwaites Glacier (shear margins) which may have significant control over future stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS). The TIME project will observe rapidly deforming parts of Thwaites Glacier which may have significant control over the future evolution of WAIS, and use these new observations to improve ice sheet models used to predict future sea level rise.

The team will be investigating two sites on the Thwaites Glacier using GPS, ApRES and seismics. One site will test if hydrology influences the behaviour and movement of the shear margin. The other will examine if the bed conditions influence the behaviour of these rapidly deforming regions. This project includes the first 3D active source seismic survey of the Antarctic ice sheet.

If the Thwaites Glacier Eastern Shear Margin migrates outwards it could join the Pine Island Glacier, connecting the two glaciers which are already making large contributions to sea-level rise. The observations from TIME will be fed into computer models to improve predictions of future sea level contribution from the region.

Marianne Karplus, Steven Harder, and Galen Kaip, TIME project researchers from The University of Texas at El Paso’s Department of Geological Sciences, arrived in Antarctica in late December 2018. They use precision seismic, GPS and radar instrumentation to collect new data on the current behavior and future evolution of Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica. These new data will help improve computer models used to predict the future contribution of the West Antarctic ice sheet to global sea level changes. 

Grant Number
NSF PLR 1739027, NERC NE/S006788/1, NERC NE/S00677X/1

Principal Investigators

Slawek Tulaczyk

TJ Young

Co-Investigators

Adam Booth

Galen Kaip

Marianne Karplus

Nori Nakata

Dustin Schroeder

Jenny Sukhale

Jake Walter

Team Members

Ronan Agnew

Nicole Bienert

Anna Broome

Poul Christoffersen

Eliza Dawson

Lucia Gonzalez

Mark Hehlen

Madeline Hunt

Emma MacKie

Danny May

Emma Pearce

Andrew Pretorius

Meghana Ranganathan

Emma Smith

Paul Summers

Tara Sweeney

Blog Posts

TIME field teams retrieve seismic, GPS, and radar data from Thwaites' eastern shear margin

There was a whole lot of digging during this Antarctic summer season (2021-22) at the Eastern Shear Margin (ESM) of Thwaites Glacier by ten intrepid International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration (ITGC) scientists and mountaineers. Two Thwaites Interdisciplinary Margin Evolution (TIME) field teams - one deployed through the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and one deployed through the U.S.

TIME update from the field 26 Dec 2019

Greetings from WAIS Divide. Jake Walter here, co-I on the TIME project, which is part of the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration (ITGC). I am the State Seismologist at the Oklahoma Geological Survey and they have loaned me out to the project to lead the field team this season.

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Related News

Mission begins to Antarctica’s remote Thwaites Glacier

On the 100th anniversary of the polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton’s death, a research mission using a fleet of underwater robots to determine the impact of Thwaites Glacier on global sea-level rise, departs from Punta Arenas, Chile (6 January 2021). A team of 32 international scientists will set sail on the U.S. National Science Foundation icebreaker Nathaniel B. Palmer bound for the remote glacier in West Antarctica.

New Sights in the Second Field Season of the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration

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.
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