A robot has been developed to understand the complex melting process of a huge glacier called Thwaites in West Antarctica. This robot has been named “Icefin”. Experts say that its melting can have profound negative effects on the planet. But the process of melting in this glacier is very complex. This glacier is larger than the city of Florida, but understanding its rate of melting is crucial. Melting of ice below its surface is accelerating, but still slower and slightly lower than our scientific predictions and models.
The ice fin has been developed by American experts and is currently floating below the McMurdo Research Station. Ice fins have revealed that melting between the crevasses and slopes of the glacier continues at a rapid pace, although the ice below the ice sheet is melting at a lower rate.
Experts are concerned that snowmelt is melting from the smooth parts of the glacier, while the rate of snowmelt is much higher on the slopes and ridges. Its volume has reduced to 14 km. According to experts, it is now impossible to compensate for this loss and in the next centuries the total disappearance of the Thwaites Glacier could lead to a global sea level rise of 1.64.
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