Mike the Usurper wrote:

Maximum high temperatures of 41 degrees Fahrenheit that persisted for about a week in Antarctica caused a melt intense enough to create an extensive ice layer.

Evidence of melting was found up to 560 miles inland from the open ocean, farther than 85 degrees south (about 310 miles from the South Pole) and higher than 6,600 feet above sea level.

That's a lot of melting in some very inhospitable to melting areas. The word for the day is "YIKES!" On the plus side, I don't live in a coastal area, so imminent flooding isn't an issue for me, but losing Greenland would be a 20' rise in sea levels, and should all Antarctica go (not terribly likely) that would be 200'. What is entirely possible at the South Pole though would be "sluicing," where a partial melt causes large chunks of the ice sheet there to thin or snap off. That would be bad. A 10' rise in sea levels would cause all sorts of issues worldwide.

"It's the end of the world as we know it..." Oh, wait that's for alien hostilities...

umm... what song did they play during that crappy "The Day After Tomorrow" movie? I didn't watch it.

Oh well. I hope 75% of the worlds major cities like being underwater.

RE: California-Sized Area of Ice Melts in Antarctica - Yahoo! News