Scientists discover cavity two-thirds the size of Manhattan underneath Antarctic glacier

A gigantic cavity almost 300 metres tall and two-thirds the size of Manhattan has been discovered growing at the bottom of a glacier in West Antarctica.

The huge cavity is one of several disturbing findings
from a NASA-led study of the disintegrating glacier.

The Thwaites Glacier — which is itself more than twice the size of Tasmania — is currently responsible for approximately 4 per cent of global sea level rise.

The NASA-led study expected to find a few gaps between the ice and the bedrock underneath the glacier, where ocean water could flow in and melt it from below — but researchers said the size and explosive growth rate of the cavity took them by surprise.

They think it would have contained 14 billion tonnes of ice, and said most of that ice melted over the past three years.

Read the ABC News story - “Scientists discover cavity two-thirds the size of Manhattan underneath Antarctic glacier.”

The Most Powerful Evidence Climate Scientists Have of Global Warming

Earth's temperature is rising, and it isn't just in the air around us. More than 90 percent of the excess heat trapped by greenhouse gas emissions has been absorbed into the oceans that cover two-thirds of the planet's surface. Their temperature is rising, too, and it tells a story of how humans are changing the planet.

This accrued heat is "really the memory of past climate change," said Kevin Trenberth, the head of climate analysis at the National Center for Atmospheric Research and co-author of a new paper on ocean warming.

It's not just the amount of warming that is significant—it's also the pace.

The rate at which the oceans are heating up has nearly doubled since 1992, and that heat is reaching ever deeper waters, according to a recent study. At the same time, concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have been rising.

The charts that follow show how the oceans are changing and what they're telling us as a thermometer of global warming.

Read the Inside Climate News story by Sabrina Shankman and Paul Horn - “The Most Powerful Evidence Climate Scientists Have of Global Warming.”