The West Antarctic Ice Sheet is in a vulnerable position, but the situation may be less dire than initially believed.

Past ice sheets have retreated rapidly, raising global sea level at rates >1 cm per year, with marine ice sheets collapsing and terrestrial ice sheets retreating in a more gradual fashion.

In the coastal areas of East Antarctica, which is a covered by a huge ice sheet, the melting of the ice sheet by warm seawater has been revealed. However, to predict the future ice sheet melting ...