Collapse may not always be inevitable for marine ice cliffs

As a result, glacier retreat may not always be as quick as predicted, simulations suggest

image of Getz Ice Sheet in Antarctica

The collapse of ice cliffs into the sea (as might happen at Antarctica’s Getz Ice Sheet, shown) won’t necessarily lead to runaway breakup of the glacier upstream, new simulations suggest.

Jeremy Harbeck/NASA

When it comes to global warming and sea level rise, scientists have made some dire predictions.