A massive glacier system in West Antarctica has started collapsing because of global warming and will contribute to significant worldwide sea-level rise, two teams of scientists warn in a pair of major studies released Monday.
Scientists had previously thought the two-mile-thick (3.2 kilometers) glacier system would remain stable for thousands of years, but new research suggests a faster time frame for melting.
A rapidly melting section of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet appears to be in irreversible decline and will sink into the sea. The study presents evidence, based on 40 years of observations, that six big glaciers in the Amundsen Sea “have passed the point of no return,”.
The glaciers contain enough ice to raise global sea level by 4 feet (1.2 meters) and are melting faster than most scientists had expected, which will require adjusting estimates of sea-level rise.
At their current rates of melting, he said, these glaciers would disappear in about two centuries, though “it could proceed faster or slower”.

Antartica Collapsing Beauty