Scientists plan 50-mile wall to block warm seas melting the ‘Doomsday Glacier’

Scientists and engineers are proposing a bold intervention to slow the rapid melting of Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica, often called the "Doomsday Glacier" due to its potential to raise global sea levels by about 65 centimeters if it collapses completely. The Seabed Anchored Curtain Project aims to install a flexible, seabed-anchored underwater barrier roughly 50 miles long and 152 meters tall in front of the glacier. This curtain would block warm ocean currents from reaching and melting the glacier’s underside, thereby slowing ice loss. The project involves a multi-institutional collaboration and plans a three-year research phase focused on material selection, mooring design, and prototype testing, with an initial fundraising goal of $10 million. While the curtain would not halt climate change, it is intended to buy time for global emissions reductions to take effect. Concurrently, UK and South Korean scientists have begun drilling nearly 1,000 meters beneath Thwaites Glacier’s main ice shelf to deploy