Data from NASA's Grace satellite shows that Antarctica is losing 100 cubic kilometers (24 cubic miles) of ice per year. More alarming, still, is the increase in the rate of disintegration. The article points out that ice can flow without melting, which illuminates how moot the skeptics' first argument is, as well as clarifying the reason behind their second claim.

The majority of the melting of the Antarctic ice sheet is occurring in Western Antarctica. Western Antarctica is a series of islands covered by ice, which NASA describes as a "frozen Hawai'i." According to data accumulated by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Western Antarctica's largest ice stream, the Pine Island Glacier is retreating. This year a British scientific group not only verified NASA's data, but also showed that the retreat of the Pine Island Glacier quadrupled between 1995 and 2006. If this glacier melts, scientists estimate it would raise sea levels by 1.6 to 2.3 feet.

A major reason for the accelerating retreat of Western Antarctica's glaciers is the warming of the sea water surrounding Antarctica. Warm water is highly problematic for ice shelves. Ice shelves are the portion of a glacier that extends beyond land mass and out into the water. As a result, their intrinsic icy structures are highly vulnerable to warm water--problem number one.