News Climate

Global warming may lead to practically irreversible Antarctic melting

A study outlines a series of temperature-related tipping points for the continent’s ice 

Getz Ice Shelf

Rising temperatures will lead to a series of tipping points for Antarctica’s ice sheets, leading to practically irreversible melting, simulations suggest. Here, the Getz Ice Shelf in West Antarctica is shown.

Jeremy Harbeck/NASA

By Carolyn Gramling

- More than 2 years ago

How is melting a continent-sized ice sheet like stirring milk into coffee? Both are, for all practical purposes, irreversible.