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Nature 458, 295-296 (19 March 2009) | doi:10.1038/458295a; Published online 18 March 2009

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Global change: West-side story of Antarctic ice

Philippe Huybrechts1

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During the past five million years, the West Antarctic ice sheet has waxed and waned in size. A two-pronged reconstruction of that history provides clues to the ice sheet's future behaviour.

For human societies, the prospect of sea-level rise is probably the most serious long-term threat from unabated climate warming. Both the Greenland ice sheet and the West Antarctic ice sheet are believed to be vulnerable to warming at the levels projected for the coming centuries.

  1. Philippe Huybrechts is in the Earth System Sciences Group and the Department of Geography, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium.
    Email: phuybrec@vub.ac.be

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