00:00This is the Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica. It's roughly the size of
00:08Florida, but it's getting smaller and smaller, faster and faster every year. In
00:12fact, it loses around 50 billion gallons of ice annually, and it has a nickname
00:17that should raise the hairs on the back of your neck. The Thwaites Glacier is
00:20also known as the Doomsday Glacier. Because if it melts entirely, it will
00:24raise global sea levels by two whole feet. Climate experts don't expect a
00:29complete melt for a couple of hundred years, but it may be near a tipping point
00:32that could spell disaster. Currently, the ice shelf is resting on an underwater
00:36mountain, which is holding it in place and slowing its melt on the eastern side.
00:40But cracks are forming in the shelf, and experts say in the next five years, giant
00:44icebergs could begin breaking off and floating away. And the researchers say
00:48that if that happens, the speed at which the Doomsday Glacier melts could triple,
00:52meaning faster sea level rise, faster acidification of our oceans, and all of
00:56the fallout that comes with it.
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