If the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Collapsed...

Antarctica is a desolate, far-away place, but what happens there could reshape life along the coasts

By Eric Betz
May 9, 2017 12:00 AMOct 15, 2019 3:33 PM
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If the West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapsed, it would cause some 10 feet of sea level rise, and nearly every mile of the southeast U.S. coastline would be inundated. Large regions of Florida and Louisiana would flood. CRESIS/University of Kansas/Haskell Indian Nations University/National Science Foundation

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As the atmosphere warms, heat is transferred to the oceans, which causes water expansion and rising sea levels. Today, Earth’s oceans are warmer than they have been in 100,000 years, according to research published in Science in January.

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