Thwaites Glacier Study: Why a Wider Grounding Zone Changes Sea-Level Projections
Tech & Science / Antarctic ice research Thwaites Glacier: the boundary is a zone Why a wider grounding zone changes sea-level projections. NEWJINMEDIA · October 23, 2026 Independent reporting from the research paper and NASA/JPL sources Archive photo: Thwaites Glacier, Antarctica, 2014. Credit: NASA/OIB/Jeremy Harbeck. Original · Usage terms . A new Thwaites model tests tidal seawater intrusion against decades of observations. Its higher sea-level estimate depends on stated assumptions. 01 The important change is beneath the ice A new study of Antarctica's Thwaites Glacier changes how a computer model represents the place where ice leaves the seabed and begins to float. Instead of treating that transition as a sharp line, the researchers allow relatively warm seawater to reach beneath grounded ice across a zone several kilometers wide. That change helps the model reconstruct observed retreat, thinning and acceleration, and it produces a larger contribution to global mean sea l...