USA TODAY: The vast glaciers of western Antarctica are rapidly melting and losing ice to the sea and almost certainly have “passed the point of no return,” according to new work by two separate teams of scientists.
The likely result: a rise in global sea levels of 4 feet or more in the coming centuries, says research made public Monday by scientists at the University of Washington, the University of California-Irvine and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
“It really is an amazingly distressing situation,” says Pennsylvania State University glaciologist Sridhar Anandakrishnan, who was not affiliated with either study. “This is a huge part of West Antarctica, and it seems to have been kicked over the edge.” … (more)
