How to melt a continental iceberg and shake Bobby into coffee? Both, for all practical purposes, are irreplaceable.

In a new study released in nature on September 24, researchers outline a series of temperature-related tipping points for the Antarctic ice sheet. Scientists say that once each tipping point is reached, changes in ice and subsequent melting will not really change the temperature even if it drops to the current level.

The entire ice sheet that sits over Antarctica has enough water to form about 58 meters above sea level. Although the ice sheet will not completely collapse tomorrow or even in the next century, Antarctic ice loss is accelerating (SN: 6/13/18). Scientists are therefore interested in understanding the processes by which such a collapse can occur.

“What we’re really interested in is the long-term stability” of the ice, says Ricarda Winkelmann, a climate scientist at Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany. In the new study, Winkelmann and her colleagues simulated how future temperature increases can lead to changes across Antarctica in the interplay between ice, oceans, atmosphere, and land.