Mass loss from Thwaites Glacier continues even without ocean melting
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Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers dominate Antarctica's sea-level contribution, but it is unclear whether their ice loss is driven by ongoing ocean forcing or a historical perturbation. Here, we remove ocean forcing in three ice-sheet models, finding that Pine Island re-advances, but Thwaites continues to lose ice. Thwaites is responding to a historical perturbation, and its historical mass loss cannot be reversed by ocean cooling alone over centennial, policy-relevant timescales.
