Articles | Volume 15, issue 11
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-5187-2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-5187-2021
Research article
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22 Nov 2021
Research article | Highlight paper |  | 22 Nov 2021

Two decades of dynamic change and progressive destabilization on the Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf

Karen E. Alley, Christian T. Wild, Adrian Luckman, Ted A. Scambos, Martin Truffer, Erin C. Pettit, Atsuhiro Muto, Bruce Wallin, Marin Klinger, Tyler Sutterley, Sarah F. Child, Cyrus Hulen, Jan T. M. Lenaerts, Michelle Maclennan, Eric Keenan, and Devon Dunmire

Data sets

Canadian ice island drift, deterioration and detection database (CI2D3 database) [v1.1] L. Desjardins, A. Crawford, D. Mueller, R. Saper, C. Schaad, E. Stewart-Jones, and J. Shepherd https://doi.org/10.21963/12678

Short summary
We present a 20-year, satellite-based record of velocity and thickness change on the Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf (TEIS), the largest remaining floating extension of Thwaites Glacier (TG). TG holds the single greatest control on sea-level rise over the next few centuries, so it is important to understand changes on the TEIS, which controls much of TG's flow into the ocean. Our results suggest that the TEIS is progressively destabilizing and is likely to disintegrate over the next few decades.