evidence: The problem is that increasingly warm ocean waters are melting the Thwaites Glacier from below, weakening its structural integrity and speeding up its destabilization. Consequently, recent research also suggests that its ice shelf could shatter in as little as five years. Without it, the Thwaites Glacier’s slide into the ocean will accelerate and cause global sea level rise that impacts millions of people. (Hence, the nickname "Doomsday Glacier.") That, in turn, would further weaken the rest of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, whose ice shelves are already melting at previously unthinkable rates. Part of this may be because, according to the Science study, "observations have revealed that parts of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet may have already passed a tipping point."