Scientists say that the possibilities of Antarctica’s “Doomsday Glacier” falling apart are getting better. Three of the world’s most famous cities might be underwater if it does.
Climate change has been linked to increasing sea levels, hotter temperatures around the planet, and more extreme weather events for a long time. But new research on the Thwaites Glacier, which is scarily known as the “Doomsday Glacier,” is making the prospective implications clearer and more alarming, according to BBC Science Focus.
Thwaites Glacier, which is in West Antarctica, has enough frozen water to raise sea levels throughout the planet by more than two feet. But scientists fear that if it breaks up completely, it might start a chain reaction that would hurt the much wider Antarctic ice sheet. What happened? The water level might rise by as much as 10 feet, which could cover major cities like London, New York, and Bangkok.
If this happened, these cities, which are home to millions of people and are popular with tourists from all over the world, would be among the first to be affected by devastating flooding.
The International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration (ITGC) has been keeping a careful eye on Thwaites since 2018 to understand more about how stable the glacier is. Their results are troubling: the glacier has a lot of “hidden lakes” that are concealed under its surface. These lakes might be a bigger threat to the glacier’s disintegration than we anticipated before.
Have you heard about the Thwaites Glacier, aka the Doomsday Glacier?
— Glenn Koepke (@LogTech1999) December 23, 2024
It’s melting rapidly, and scientists are warning that its collapse could mean global flooding and disaster.
Here's what's happening and how supply chains can adapt: pic.twitter.com/LR3iD7kbxn
A study done by ITGC member Professor Noel Gourmelen in March 2025 discovered that these subglacial lakes are making the ice melt a lot faster.
Gourmelen stated, “We thought that water flowing out of the bottom of the ice sheet might help keep the ocean from melting too quickly.” The scale of this lake drainage finally gave us a chance to see and measure what it did.
“The lake discharge happened at a crucial place that changed Thwaites’ stability. For a brief time, the drainage made Thwaites move away from the ocean faster.
The Southern Hemisphere is already getting hotter than projected in 2025, so that “turbo charge” comes at the right time. This is a worrying sign that the glacier may be melting quicker than expected.
Dr. Alastair Graham, a marine geologist at the University of South Florida and a member of the ITGC, told News.com.au, “If Thwaites Glacier disappears, the sea level would rise by around 65 cm (25 inches).
“This year is very different.” After this, it’s hard to go back on track in only one season. “The game has changed.”
The most recent evidence reveals that the tipping point might happen far sooner than scientists had thought, even though the glacier may not entirely collapse for decades or perhaps thousands of years. If this happens, it could change the coastlines, the economy, and the lives of millions of people around the world for good.
