There are new concerns for the melting Antarctica ice sheet. A new tipping point is possible.

British researchers have created new ice sheet computer models that include warm sea water intruding under ice sheets where the sea and land meet, widening and deepening the melting zone further inland. This new model is supported by previous research identifying this interaction.

The new computer models point to a new “tipping point,” where the warmer ocean water creates runaway melting underneath the ice sheet. This has multiplier effect by increasing the sea-level rise faster and accelerating the speed that ice sheets move over the ocean water, causing even faster ice melt.

This data and research are currently not used in ice sheet modelling used by scientists to estimate sea level rise. The next step would be to add it to these models.

Additionally, these new findings could be a factor in underestimates of both ice sheet melting in Antarctica and Greenland and acceleration of sea-level rise.