West Antarctic Ice Sheet Melt Past Point of No Return

Experts say that a large section of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet has reached a state of irreversible retreat. Its continued melting will raise sea levels as much as 4 ft (1.2 m) over the next few hundred years and could trigger a chain reaction of additional melting of nearby parts of the ice sheet, causing sea levels to rise even more. Even if we were to curb our greenhouse gas emissions, we could not now reverse or even halt the melt. The best we could hope for is to slow the ice loss. More… Discuss