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Thwaites Glacier: Difference between revisions

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==Engineering options for stabilization==
[[File:Wolovick2018_Thwaites_sill_timelines.png|thumb|left|upright=2.2|A proposed "underwater sill" blocking 50% of warm water flows heading for the glacier could have the potential to delay its collapse and the resultant sea level rise by many centuries.<ref name="Wolovick2018" />]]
Some engineering interventions have been proposed for Thwaites Glacier and the nearby [[Pine Island Glacier]] to physically stabilize its ice, or to preserve it by blocking the flow of warm ocean water, which currently renders the collapse of these two glaciers practically inevitable even without further warming.<ref name="Joughin2014" /><ref name="MIT2022" /> A proposal from 2018 included building sills at the Thwaites' [[grounding line]] to either physically reinforce it, or to block some fraction of warm water flow. The former would be the simplest intervention, yet equivalent to "the largest civil engineering projects that humanity has ever attempted": it is also only 30% likely to work. Constructions blocking even 50% of the warm water flow are expected to be far more effective, yet far more difficult as well.<ref name="Wolovick2018">{{Cite journal |last1=Wolovick |first1=Michael J. |last2=Moore |first2=John C. |date=20 September 2018 |title=Stopping the flood: could we use targeted geoengineering to mitigate sea level rise? |url=https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/16/397/2022/ |journal=The Cryosphere |volume=12 |issue=9 |pages=2955–2967 |language=en |doi=10.5194/tc-12-2955-2018 |bibcode=2018TCry...12.2955W |s2cid=52969664 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Further, some researchers argued that this proposal could be ineffective, or even accelerate sea level rise.<ref name="Moon2018">{{Cite journal |last1=Moon |first1=Twila A. |title=Geoengineering might speed glacier melt |date=25 April 2018 |journal=Nature |volume=556 |issue=7702 |language=en |pages=436 |doi=10.1038/d41586-018-04897-5 |pmid=29695853 |bibcode=2018Natur.556R.436M |doi-access=free }}</ref> The original authors suggested attempting this intervention on smaller sites, like the [[Jakobshavn Glacier]] in [[Greenland]], as a test,<ref name="Wolovick2018" /><ref name="MIT2022" /> as well as acknowledging that this intervention cannot prevent [[sea level rise]] from the increased [[ocean heat content]], and would be ineffective in the long run without [[greenhouse gas emission]] reductions.<ref name="Wolovick2018" />