Studying a former ice sheet that retreated at the end of the last Ice Age, about 20,000 years ago, scientists have found that ice sheets can retreat up to 600 meters a day during periods of climate warming, 20 times faster than the highest rate of retreat previously measured. That ice sheet underwent pulses of rapid retreat at a speed of 50 to 600 meters per day, much faster than any ice sheet retreat rate observed from satellites or inferred from similar landforms in Antarctica. Pulses of similarly rapid retreat could soon be observed in parts of Antarctica, including at the Thwaites Glacier which could undergo a pulse of rapid retreat because it has recently retreated close to a flat area of its bed. Present-day rates of melting are considered sufficient to cause short pulses of rapid retreat across flat-bedded areas of the Antarctic Ice Sheet, including Thwaites.
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/04/230405112113.htm