According to a report by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the Antarctic Thwaites Glacier, known as the "Doomsday Glacier," is melting at an alarming rate, raising sea levels and causing both concern and confusion.

British and American scientists recently announced that they have found the answer to this problem.

Scientists say that the culprit behind the glacier's rapid melting is warm currents infiltrating between the glacier's base and bedrock, with water temperatures of 2 degrees Celsius. Utilizing the latest surveying instruments, scientists have mapped out the path of the warm currents traveling beneath the ice.

The latest research findings were published in the journal "Ice." Various detection data show that the front bottom of the Thwaites Glacier is suspended, with warm ocean currents entering a vast channel between the continental shelf and the glacier's base.

The more exposed the ice surface is to the water, the more it melts, and the greater the influx of warm currents, thus creating a vicious cycle.

The report states that the cavity at the bottom of the glacier is deeper than previously thought, approximately 600 meters, equivalent to six football fields end to end.

These underwater warm currents are described as the Achilles' heel of the Thwaites Glacier, which has existed for millions of years.

If the Thwaites Glacier continues to melt at its current rate, the collapse of the ice shelf will be inevitable, leading to a serious distortion of the Earth's ocean and atmospheric circulation systems, with dire consequences.

"The Secrets of the Doomsday Glacier"

The Thwaites Glacier is one of the largest and fastest-moving glaciers in Antarctica (the other being the Pine Island Glacier), located in the west of the Antarctic state.

The glacier is 4 kilometers thick and covers an area of ​​over 180,000 square kilometers, slightly smaller than the size of the UK and comparable to the size of the state of Florida in the United States.

The Thwaites Glacier is considered key to predicting global sea level rise. Data shows that it has enough ice to raise sea levels by 65 centimeters, and after melting, it injects ice water into the Amundsen Sea, accounting for about 4% of the total global sea level rise.

NASA announced last year that using the latest satellite radar detection technology, it discovered a huge cave at the bottom of the Thwaites Glacier, 300 meters high and covering an area of ​​about 40 square kilometers, capable of holding 14 billion tons of ice. Data shows that a large part of this cave was formed within three years.

The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) used unmanned submersibles to survey the water flow at the bottom of the glacier, detecting turbulent flows composed of mixed salty and fresh water, and measured "warm water" temperatures more than 2 degrees Celsius above the freezing point.

Profile maps drawn from various data show the path and consequences of warm currents eroding and melting the glacier from the bottom.

NASA and BAS research results confirm suspicions in the scientific community for many years that the front end of the Thwaites Glacier is not tightly attached to the bedrock of the continental shelf, allowing warm currents to embed themselves between the ice layers and the seabed; the larger the cross-section, the faster the glacier melts.

Due to climate change, the Earth is warming, and ocean temperatures are rising. The warming of Pacific waters has led to changes in wind direction along the west coast of the Antarctic continent, driving warmer currents from the ocean depths.