West Antarctica

West Antarctica is the part of Antarctica west of the Transantarctic Mountains, including the Antarctic Peninsula and ice-covered regions around the Amundsen and Ross seas. Much of its ice rests on bedrock below sea level.

Antarctica: Earth’s southernmost continent, almost entirely covered by ice. West Antarctica is one of the continent’s two major ice-sheet regions.
Marine ice sheet instability: A feedback in which retreat of a marine ice sheet into deeper bedrock can accelerate further retreat. Much of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet rests on a bed that deepens inland.
Sea-level rise: A long-term increase in the average level of the world’s oceans. Land ice lost from West Antarctica adds water to the global ocean.
Ross Ice Shelf: The largest ice shelf in Antarctica, floating over the Ross Sea. It borders West Antarctica and buttresses several major glaciers.
Antarctic ice-sheet tipping point: A threshold beyond which ice-sheet retreat may continue through self-sustaining feedbacks. Researchers test whether West Antarctic retreat could become difficult to halt.
Transantarctic Mountains: A mountain range that crosses Antarctica and separates East Antarctica from West Antarctica. The range forms the geographic boundary used to distinguish West Antarctica.
Ice shelf: A floating extension of a glacier or ice sheet that remains attached to land ice. West Antarctic ice shelves restrain the grounded glaciers flowing into the ocean.
Sea-level-equivalent of Antarctic ice: The global mean sea-level rise that would result if Antarctic land ice melted completely. It measures the scale of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet’s potential contribution.
Getz Ice Shelf: A large ice shelf along the coast of Marie Byrd Land in West Antarctica. It illustrates ocean-driven thinning along the region’s Pacific-facing coast.
Ice-sheet modeling: The numerical simulation of ice-sheet flow, mass balance, and response to climate. Models estimate how uncertain bedrock and ocean processes shape West Antarctic futures.

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