How is the ocean melting Antarctica? We're starting to figure it out

Antarctica 's ice sheet holds enough freshwater to raise global sea levels by 58 metres .

Ice loss from this sheet is projected to be the leading driver of sea level rise by 2100 .

Ocean processes that control basal melting, and the fate of the entire Antarctic ice sheet, occur on the scale of millimetres.

But recently scientists have made significant progress in understanding this "ice-ocean boundary layer".

New computer models are needed to simulate the formation and evolution of the whole icescape.

Accurate representation of melt in climate and ice sheet models will reduce the deep uncertainty in sea level rise projections, especially as ocean conditions — and ice shelf melt regimes — shift into the future.