Located in Antarctica, Thwaites Glacier is the widest glacier on the earth.

It has roughly the size of the island of Britain and larger than the US state of Florida. ¹

Thwaites Glacier's floating ice tongue on December 2, 2001 ²

The ice tongue was consolidated and provided a resistance to the Eastern Ice Shelf.

The ice was moving at different rates and provided a resistance to each other. ³

In 2004, Thwaites started losing grip on seamount. ⁴

In 2014, research estimated Thwaites would collapse in the next 200 to 900 years. ^{5, 6}

According to David Holland, director of New York University’s Fluid Dynamics Laboratory and NYU Abu Dhabi’s Center for Global Sea Level Change, the melt rates on the western side are the highest seen anywhere in Antarctica to date and suggests the glacier may now be in retreat. ⁷

Peter Davis of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) took ocean measurements through a 600-meter deep borehole around two kilometers from the grounding line, created by a hot water drill in late 2019. The measurements show the melting rate was less than previously modeled. ⁷

Thwaites Glacier's floating ice tongue on December 2, 2001 ²

Thwaites Glacier December 28, 2019 ²

Because there is no longer structure to the ice tongue, there is no grip for the eastern ice shelf. ³

The fracturing of Thwaites Glaciers from October 2014 to July 2020 ⁸

By estimation, the grip on the seamount will be gone by 2030. ⁴

Much of the ice sheet is below sea level and susceptible to rapid, irreversible ice loss that could raise global sea-level by over half a meter within centuries.