Antarctic Glacier's Tipping Point Triggers Sudden Collapse

Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica has experienced an irreversible retreat, passing a tipping point within the last 80 years, according to research published in Nature Climate Change. The glacier underwent a rapid, unstable retreat between the 1940s and 1970s, resulting in an irreversible loss of ice over several decades. This retreat is attributed to warm ocean temperatures causing melting beneath the glacier. The study warns that unless global warming is mitigated, the glacier is likely to enter periods of rapid retreat in the future.