Football-sized boulders provide clue to Antarctic melt

No one even saw Antarctica before sailors spotted the coast in 1820 so there are scant historical records and little understanding of how ice sheets might react to rising temperatures linked to global warming. The area of west Antarctica studied, the Amundsen Sea Embayment, is of special concern because much of the bedrock under the ice is below sea level. The weight of the ice keeps it in place but scientists fear it could float loose.

If that happened, world sea levels would rise by 1.5 metres. If all of Antarctica melted over thousands of years it would raise sea levels by 57 metres, drowning many of the world’s biggest cities and many low-lying islands.
Independent