Damage intensity increases ice mass loss from  Thwaites Glacier, Antarctica

Li, Yanjun; Coulon, Violaine; Blasco, Javier; Qiao, Gang; Yang, Qinghua; Pattyn, Frank

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-4373-2025

Articles | Volume 19, issue 10

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-4373-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-4373-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 19, issue 10

Research article

|

07 Oct 2025

Research article |

| 07 Oct 2025

Damage intensity increases ice mass loss from Thwaites Glacier, Antarctica

Yanjun Li, Violaine Coulon, Javier Blasco, Gang Qiao, Qinghua Yang, and Frank Pattyn

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-4373-2025-supplement

Data sets

Damage intensity increases ice mass loss from Thwaites Glacier, Antarctica Y. Li et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15114549

Kittel et al. (2021), The Cryosphere : MAR and ESMs data C. Kittel https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4459259

Short summary

We incorporate ice damage processes into an ice-sheet model and apply the new model to Thwaites Glacier. The upgraded model more accurately captures the observed ice mass loss of Thwaites Glacier over 1990–2020. Our simulations show that ice damage has a notable impact on the ice mass loss, grounding-line retreat, ice velocity, and ice thickness of the Thwaites Glacier basin. This study highlights the necessity for incorporating ice damage into ice-sheet models.