 Dakshin Gangotri Glacier , a small outlet glacier of the Antarctic ice sheet , receded at an average rate of 0 @.@ 7 m ( 2 @.@ 3 ft ) per year from 1983 to 2002 . On the Antarctic Peninsula , which is the only section of Antarctica that extends well north of the Antarctic Circle , there are hundreds of retreating glaciers . In one study of 244 glaciers on the peninsula , 212 have retreated an average of 600 m ( 2 @,@ 000 ft ) from where they were when first measured in 1953 . Pine Island Glacier , an Antarctic outflow glacier that flows into the Amundsen Sea . A study from 1998 concluded that the glacier thinned 3 @.@ 5 m ( 11 ft ) ± 0 @.@ 9 m ( 3 @.@ 0 ft ) per year and retreated a total of 5 km ( 3 @.@ 1 mi ) in 3 @.@ 8 years . The terminus of the Pine Island Glacier is a floating ice shelf , and the point at which it starts to float retreated 1 @.@ 2 km ( 0 @.@ 75 mi ) per year from 1992 to 1996 . This glacier drains a substantial portion of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet . 
