An article published in NewScientist reveals that Antarctica’s melting ice sheets may retreat faster than previously thought. Scientists from the British Antarctic Survey and the University of Oxford discovered that Antarctica’s melting ice sheets may retreat more quickly as warm seawater intrudes underneath them, leading to more melting and faster sea level rise. 

Their findings are built off a model developed by School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Associate Professor Alexander Robel and other researchers. Robel’s model found extensive intrusions could more than double the amount of ice loss from an ice sheet by adding heat from below and lubricating the flow of ice along the bedrock. “That positive feedback can cause there to be much more intrusion than we thought possible,” says Robel. “Whether that will be a tipping point that will lead to unrestrained incursion of seawater under the ice sheet – that’s probably a stretch.”