The melt rate of West Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier is an important concern for climate scientists, because this glacier alone is currently responsible for about 1% of global sea level rise. Credit: Stuart Rankin/Flickr

A study by British and American scientists revealed that a massive sheet of ice known as the “doomsday glacier” is melting faster than experts previously believed—edging the world closer to a possible sea level rise of more than 10 feet.

Researchers at New York University and the British Antarctic Survey drilled through nearly 2,000 feet of ice in the Thwaites glacier in West Antarctica, to measure temperatures at the 75-mile wide ice sheet’s “grounding line,” where the ice meets the ocean.

The water just beneath the ice was found to be 32º Fahrenheit—more than 2º above freezing temperature in the Antarctic region.

The findings have “huge implications for global sea level rise,” NYU scientist David Holland said in a statement.

350.org co-founder and author Bill McKibben was among the climate action campaigners who expressed alarm over the new study.

“Oh, damn,” McKibben wrote on social media.

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