article_snippet: 2012 clearly shows the accelerating decline which could hasten the rise in global sea levels, .
article_snippet: Ice is added to the ice shelf by glaciers flowing off the continent and by snowfall.
article_snippet: Ice is lost when icebergs break off the ice front, and by melting in some regions as warm water flows into the ocean cavity under the ice shelf.
article_snippet: Under some ice shelves, cold and fresh meltwater rises to a point where it refreezes onto the ice shelf .
article_snippet: The melting of these ice shelves does not directly affect .
article_snippet: sea levels because The melting of these ice shelves are already floating. '
article_snippet: But the floating ice shelves provide a restraining force for .
article_snippet: land-based ice, and the floating ice shelves reduction would increase the flow of .
article_snippet: the ice from the land into the ocean, which would increase sea . levels. '
article_snippet: shelves, ice loss can be related fairly directly to warming air .