Could a 10 percent loss of Antarctic ice flood the world?

Nature · Published 22 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: This NOVA documentary investigates whether Antarctica's ancient climate history holds the key to predicting its future. It follows a high-tech expedition drilling into the seafloor to uncover how the continent responded to past warming.

The production explores the terrifying chance that the Antarctic ice sheet, spanning a landmass 1.5 times the size of the United States, might suffer a total collapse. A 2002 event, where an ice shelf the size of Manhattan collapsed in under a month, serves as a primary example of the instability that concerns scientists. The documentary highlights that even a 10 percent loss of this ice could lead to unprecedented coastal flooding globally.

Scientists are extracting rock cores by boring 0.75 miles beneath the Antarctic seabed to better comprehend these dangers. These samples provide a record of climate and fauna from a period when the Earth was only a few degrees warmer than it is today. By studying these ancient clues, scientists hope to model the potential consequences for modern coastal cities.

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