Environmental analysis news: Antarctic glacier 'may have reached tipping point'

A new model to predict the rate at which ice sheets will melt as global temperatures rise has been developed by scientists at Oxford University.

According to their findings, there is a tipping point when ice sheets will begin to melt more quickly than previously estimated.

The research found that this relates to changes to a glacier's grounding line, which is where an ice sheet becomes detached from its rock or sediment base.

Dr Richard Katz, an author of the study, explained: "Our model shows how instability in the grounding line, caused by gradual climatic changes, has the potential to reach a tipping point where disintegration of the ice sheet could occur."

He added that the volume of ice in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet - one of the subjects of the research - equates to a 3.3 metre rise in sea levels.

The scientists also warned that this disintegration could already be happening in some of the ice sheets, including the Pine Ice Glacier.

A report published in July last year by the University of Bristol predicted that global sea levels will rise by between seven and 82 cm by the end of the century, depending on the amount of warming that occurs in worldwide temperatures.

Posted by Lauren Steadman