Geophysicists around the world, including Mines Professor Matthew Siegfried, are closely monitoring Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier. This glacier, which lies along the western edge of the West Antarctic ice sheet, has developed cracks and fissures that could lead to a total collapse of the glacier within five years, according to research reported in December at the American Geophysical Union meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana. Because of the glacier’s location and size – nearly the size of Florida – such a collapse would cause a devastating rise of sea levels. While scientists differ in their predictions on exactly how fast and how much this rise would be, all predictions indicate there would be severe consequences for humanity. Learn more about the Thwaites glacier in the following articles. In the first, Dr. Siegfried is mentioned, and he recommends the second for its solid description of events. Giant cracks push imperiled Antarctic glacier closer to collapse and The fuse has been blown…