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Pine Island Glacier's retreat 'irreversible'
Source: BBC
14 January 2014 Last updated at 12:23 GMT
Pine Island Glacier's retreat 'irreversible'
By Jonathan Amos
Science correspondent, BBC News
Antarctica's mighty Pine Island Glacier (PIG) is now very probably in a headlong, self-sustaining retreat.
This is the conclusion of three teams that have modelled its behaviour.
Even if the region were to experience much colder conditions, the retreat would continue, the teams tell the journal Nature Climate Change.
This means PIG is set to become an even more significant contributor to global sea level rise - on the order of perhaps 3.5-10mm in the next 20 years.
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Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25729750