Uploaded November 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Cascading Feedbacks Greatly Accelerate Antarctic Ice Shelf and Ice Sheet Melt due to Warm Deep Water
Cascading feedbacks are worsening Antarctic glacial melt:
- Antarctica coastal ice melt is freshening the water around Antarctica
- the fresher, lighter water has lower density so causes stratification in the ocean near the coasts
- the stratification reduces vertical mixing
- the warm Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) has less shoaling and mixing due to the strong stratification effect, thus this water travels inland more and melts the ice shelves from below
- with less ice shelf ice, the inland glacier flow accelerates, calves more at coastlines, and thins
- thus, more coastal melt occurs, so more water freshening occurs, so the loop cascades strongly
Thus: Melt rates will continue to rise on both Antarctica and Greenland (by same process). Thus, expect great lurches upwards over time in global sea level, much faster than expected...
That's all for now, folks...
Please donate to PaulBeckwith.net to support my research and videos connecting the dots on abrupt climate system mayhem.
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References:
Article: Ancient Antarctic ice melt triggered a chain reaction 9000 years ago
scitechdaily.com/ancient-antarctic-ice-melt-triggered-a-chain-reaction-9000-years-ago
Wikipedia article on location of the new research data collected:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%BCtzow-Holm_Bay
Map of Antarctica
coolantarctica.com/gallery/scenic/views_of_antarctica.php
Hokkaida University press release:
Antarctic ice melt triggers further melting: Evidence for cascading feedbacks 9,000 years ago
Press Release
Nov 10, 2025
Integration of proxy records with ocean–climate modeling reveals that early Holocene ice-shelf retreat in East Antarctica was driven by oceanic forcing enhanced by meltwater discharge from neighboring regions.
global.hokudai.ac.jp/news/24118
Peer-reviewed science paper in Nature Geosciences journal: open source (free)
Antarctic ice-shelf collapse in Holocene driven by meltwater release feedbacks
Link: nature.com/articles/s41561-025-01829-7
Abstract
Circumpolar Deep Water inflow onto Antarctica’s continental shelves is a key driver of accelerated Antarctic Ice Sheet mass loss, both presently and during the last deglaciation. However, the mechanisms driving enhanced inflow and the resultant impact on large-scale ice-sheet retreat events are still not fully understood. Here we address this topic using marine sediment cores from Lützow – Holm Bay, East Antarctica, through analyses of sedimentary beryllium isotopes and complementary proxies. These records, when compared to inland mountain outcrop records, show that ice-shelf collapse and simultaneous inland ice-sheet thinning ~9,000 years ago were associated with enhanced Circumpolar Deep Water inflow and sea-level rise. A hierarchical modelling approach that combines climate and high-resolution ocean simulations suggests that freshwater discharge from adjacent Antarctic sectors into the Southern Ocean probably
enhanced the regional inflow into submarine troughs in Lützow – Holm Bay between 10,000 and 9,000 years ago. We propose a feedback loop whereby meltwater from rapidly retreating Antarctic sectors since the Last Glacial Maximum enhanced stratification and Circumpolar Deep Water incursions onto adjacent shelves. Alongside relative sea-level rise, this meltwater feedback triggers further ice-shelf instability and enhances dynamic inland ice discharge, highlighting a mechanism relevant to future Antarctic Ice Sheet changes.
Please donate to PaulBeckwith.net to support my research and videos connecting the dots on abrupt climate system mayhem.
Please subscribe to my YouTube channel. As well as my website, and YouTube, you can find me on Patreon, Facebook, Twitter/X, LinkedIn, Instagram, Reddit (multiple climate channels within), Quora, TikTok, Discord, Mastodon, Twitch, Vimeo, Bluesky, TruthSocial, Threads, Substack, Tumblr, Pinterest, etc...
Cascading Feedbacks Greatly Accelerate Antarctic Ice Shelf and Ice Sheet Melt due to Warm Deep Water
Cascading feedbacks are worsening Antarctic glacial melt:
- Antarctica coastal ice melt is freshening the water around Antarctica
- the fresher, lighter water has lower density so causes stratification in the ocean near the coasts
- the stratification reduces vertical mixing
- the warm Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) has less shoaling and mixing due to the strong stratification effect, thus this water travels inland more and melts the ice shelves from below
- with less ice shelf ice, the inland glacier flow accelerates, calves more at coastlines, and thins
- thus, more coastal melt occurs, so more water freshening occurs, so the loop cascades strongly
Thus: Melt rates will continue to rise on both Antarctica and Greenland (by same process). Thus, expect great lurches upwards over time in global sea level, much faster than expected...
That's all for now, folks...
Please donate to PaulBeckwith.net to support my research and videos connecting the dots on abrupt climate system mayhem.
Please subscribe to my YouTube channel. As well as my website, and YouTube, you can find me on Patreon, Facebook, Twitter/X, LinkedIn, Instagram, Reddit (multiple climate channels within), Quora, TikTok, Discord, Mastodon, Twitch, Vimeo, Bluesky, TruthSocial, Threads, Substack, Tumblr, Pinterest, etc...
References:
Article: Ancient Antarctic ice melt triggered a chain reaction 9000 years ago
scitechdaily.com/ancient-antarctic-ice-melt-triggered-a-chain-reaction-9000-years-ago
Wikipedia article on location of the new research data collected:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%BCtzow-Holm_Bay
Map of Antarctica
coolantarctica.com/gallery/scenic/views_of_antarctica.php
Hokkaida University press release:
Antarctic ice melt triggers further melting: Evidence for cascading feedbacks 9,000 years ago
Press Release
Nov 10, 2025
Integration of proxy records with ocean–climate modeling reveals that early Holocene ice-shelf retreat in East Antarctica was driven by oceanic forcing enhanced by meltwater discharge from neighboring regions.
global.hokudai.ac.jp/news/24118
Peer-reviewed science paper in Nature Geosciences journal: open source (free)
Antarctic ice-shelf collapse in Holocene driven by meltwater release feedbacks
Link: nature.com/articles/s41561-025-01829-7
Abstract
Circumpolar Deep Water inflow onto Antarctica’s continental shelves is a key driver of accelerated Antarctic Ice Sheet mass loss, both presently and during the last deglaciation. However, the mechanisms driving enhanced inflow and the resultant impact on large-scale ice-sheet retreat events are still not fully understood. Here we address this topic using marine sediment cores from Lützow – Holm Bay, East Antarctica, through analyses of sedimentary beryllium isotopes and complementary proxies. These records, when compared to inland mountain outcrop records, show that ice-shelf collapse and simultaneous inland ice-sheet thinning ~9,000 years ago were associated with enhanced Circumpolar Deep Water inflow and sea-level rise. A hierarchical modelling approach that combines climate and high-resolution ocean simulations suggests that freshwater discharge from adjacent Antarctic sectors into the Southern Ocean probably
enhanced the regional inflow into submarine troughs in Lützow – Holm Bay between 10,000 and 9,000 years ago. We propose a feedback loop whereby meltwater from rapidly retreating Antarctic sectors since the Last Glacial Maximum enhanced stratification and Circumpolar Deep Water incursions onto adjacent shelves. Alongside relative sea-level rise, this meltwater feedback triggers further ice-shelf instability and enhances dynamic inland ice discharge, highlighting a mechanism relevant to future Antarctic Ice Sheet changes.
Please donate to PaulBeckwith.net to support my research and videos connecting the dots on abrupt climate system mayhem.
Please subscribe to my YouTube channel. As well as my website, and YouTube, you can find me on Patreon, Facebook, Twitter/X, LinkedIn, Instagram, Reddit (multiple climate channels within), Quora, TikTok, Discord, Mastodon, Twitch, Vimeo, Bluesky, TruthSocial, Threads, Substack, Tumblr, Pinterest, etc...
