The Myth of the ‘Doomsday Glacier’

In this RedState article, The Heartland Institute’s Anthony Watts argues that the media’s “Doomsday Glacier” narrative about Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier is driven more by alarmist framing and worst-case modeling than by measured evidence.

• The article says Thwaites Glacier is retreating, but argues that retreat should not be equated with imminent collapse or near-term global catastrophe.
• Watts criticizes media coverage for highlighting projected ice loss in dramatic terms while failing to put those numbers in context against the glacier’s total mass.
• The piece argues that the glacier’s melting is largely tied to relatively warm ocean water intruding beneath the ice shelf, making it more of an ocean-circulation issue than a simple atmospheric-warming story.
• The article emphasizes that Antarctic ice behavior varies significantly by region, with some areas losing mass while others have shown stability or gains depending on the time frame.
• Watts says worst-case ice-sheet models rely on assumptions about processes such as marine ice-cliff instability and hydrofracturing, and that small changes in those assumptions can produce dramatically different projections.
• The article argues that sea-level rise is occurring gradually in millimeters per year rather than meters per decade, making adaptation more realistic than panic.
• Watts contends that the phrase “Doomsday Glacier” is itself a political and media marketing device, designed to imply inevitability rather than scientific uncertainty.
• The piece does not claim Thwaites should be ignored; instead, it says the glacier deserves continued study without turning every new finding into a tabloid-style climate scare.
• The broader point is that public policy should be based on observed trends and realistic projections rather than treating the most extreme model scenarios as settled near-term reality.

Read the full story: https://redstate.com/heartlandinstitute/2026/06/04/the-myth-of-the-doomsday-glacier-n2203003