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"   Although the Amundsen Sea region is only a fraction of the whole West Antarctic Ice Sheet, the region contains enough ice to raise global sea levels by 4 feet. Credit: NASA/GSFC/SVS The West Antarctic ice sheet is rapidly melting, and researchers say that total collapse may be inevitable. At a press conference earlier today, NASA confirmed that the Thwaites Glacier\u2014a receding hunk of ice that supports the much larger West Antarctic ice sheet\u2014could disappear within the next couple of hundred years. If Thwaites falls, the West Antarctic ice sheet is set to collapse along with it, ultimately raising global sea levels by 10 to 15 feet. &amp;quot;Scientists recognized that this is the first step in a potential chain reaction,&amp;quot; NASA stated in a related press release. &amp;quot;In this equation, more ice flows to sea every year and sea level rises.&amp;quot; The NASA study, along with a complementary paper published today in the journal Science, may prompt the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to revise their already dire estimates for rising sea levels. &amp;quot;The vast majority of these projections do not take into account the possibility of major ice loss in Antarctica,&amp;quot; NASA noted in the press release. The most recent IPCC report, which reflects the consensus of the scientific community, predicted that sea levels would rise only 3 feet by 2100. Higher sea levels could cause major flooding in coastal cities, more powerful storm surges, and the devastation of inland marine ecosystems. But, for once, this particular climate disaster may not be our fault. Scientists believe that the Thwaites is melting due to a surge of naturally occurring warm water, pulled from ocean depths by strong Antarctic winds. Human-caused global warming may be one factor in the uptick of these winds, but scientists say that natural climate variability likely played a decisive role. Whether or not we sped up the process, it appears as though any preventive action that we could take to save the West Antarctic ice sheet would be &amp;quot;too little, too late,&amp;quot; Ian Joughin, a glaciologist at the University of Washington and coauthor of the Science paper, told The New York Times earlier today. &amp;quot;There&amp;#039;s no stabilization mechanism.&amp;quot; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/a10504/scientists-say-antarctic-ice-sheet-collapse-inevitable-16785682/>