West Antarctic's Melting Plugs May Trigger 3-Meter Rise in Seas
- Melting of continetal ice sheet may be `unstoppable' process
- `Vicious cycle of retreating continental ice would kick in'
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Ice shelves in the Amundsen Basin area of Antarctica have become destabilized by warming seawater, a shift that may accelerate melting of the West Antarctic ice sheet and drive up sea levels, according to a new study.
Those shelves protect the continental ice sheet. If they melt, it would trigger an “unstoppable” process and the “huge West Antarctic ice sheet would collapse completely,” scientists at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research said in a paper published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.