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Thwaites Glacier (TG) is the "soft underbelly" of the WAIS, and yes I believe that TG is in the initial stages of ramping-up to exhibit a new behavior that will be the first signal that the majority of researchers will not be able to ignore (as the IPCC AR4 and the IPCC SOD AR5 have ignored) the risk of abrupt SLR.  In general terms what you should look for (in reference to the attached figure) is: (a) over the next five to ten years, the combination of the extention of the TG subglacial cavity due to CDW advection and periodic outbursting of the subglacial melt water network (causing surges of the TG resulting in thinning of the gateway ice thickness leading to floatation of the associated thin ice), while gradually expand the gateway to the East causing the ice flow velocities to expand to the East; and (b) this will cause the ice velocities across the current 50 km wide gateway to accelerate to about 4 to 4.5 km/yr.  When this happens you can be sure that the grounding line will retreat across this 50 km width creating a short ice shelf (replacing the current ice tongue), and as shown in the "collapse" thread this ice shelf will have extended to the branching location for the TG subglacial melt water network by 2040 at which point the collapse of TG will be unavoidable and its collapse will accelerate ice loss from the PIG drainage basin through the TG gateway (see the yellow line in the accompanying figure).  Thwaites Overview.PNG 666