Upside-down ‘rivers’ of warm ocean water are eroding the fractured edges of thick, floating Antarctic ice shelves from below, helping to create conditions that lead to ice-shelf breakup and sea-level rise, according to a new study. The findings describe a new process important to the future of Antarctica’s ice and the continent’s contribution to rising seas. Models and forecasts do not yet account for the newly understood and troubling scenario, which is already underway.
