Global warming is melting Antarctic ice from below | John Abraham

Warming oceans melting Antarctic ice shelves could accelerate sea level rise

We all know intuitively that in a warmer world there will be less ice. And, since the North and South Pole regions contain lots of ice, anyone who wants to see evidence of climate change can look there.

But beyond this simplistic view, things can get pretty complex. First, it's important to recognize that the Arctic and the Antarctic are very different places. In the Arctic, almost all the ice is floating on water - there is very little land. So, we talk about 'sea ice' in the north, formed from frozen sea water. On the other hand, Antarctica is a massive land mass that is covered by ice formed from snowfall (called an 'ice sheet'). There is some floating ice around the perimeter of the land, but the vast majority of Antarctic ice is on land.