While the Second World War broke out here, something was set in motion in Antarctica that we have still not managed to stop.
Credits: Scientias: Caroline Kraaijvanger
New research reveals that the Thwaites Glacier – nicknamed the Doomsday Glacier – already started melting in the early 1940s. And the glacier still does that in 2024.
The beginning
We have known that the glacier is losing ice since the 1970s, when satellites started keeping a close eye on things. But it was unknown exactly when the ice loss started. The new research now changes that. According to the researchers, the glacier began to retreat as early as the 1940s. And that retreat coincides – probably not entirely coincidentally – with an extreme El Niño that significantly warmed the western part of
