Antarctica 's icy edge is disappearing in warming ocean waters , with the last decade seeing the rate of ice loss increase dramatically . This is according to a new study that has combined 18-years worth of ice shelf thinning data from three different sets of satellites . The researchers claim that some ice shelves in West Antarctica have lost as much as 18 per cent of their volume in the last ten years . Scroll down for video . Rates of thickness change ( metres/decade ) are colour-coded from -25 ( thinning ) to +10 ( thickening ) . Circles represent percentage of thickness lost ( red ) or gained ( blue ) in 18 years . The central circle shows the area not surveyed by the satellites . Satellite data from 1994 to . 2012 clearly shows the accelerating decline which could hasten the rise in global sea levels , . scientists say . The findings , published today in the journal Science , . come amid concern among many scientists about the effects of . global climate change on Earth 's vast , remote polar regions . During the study period 's first half , to about 2003 , the . overall volume decline around Antarctica was small , with West . Antarctica losses almost balanced out by gains in East . Antarctica . After that , western losses accelerated and gains in . the east ended . 'There has been more and more ice being lost from . Antarctica 's floating ice shelves , ' said glaciologist Helen . Fricker of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the . University of California , San Diego . Ice is added to the ice shelf by glaciers flowing off the continent and by snowfall . 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 . Under some ice shelves , cold and fresh meltwater rises to a point where it refreezes onto the ice shelf . The Crosson Ice Shelf in the Amundsen Sea and the Venable . Ice Shelf in the Bellingshausen Sea , both in West Antarctica , . each shrank about 18 percent during the study period . Climate change could make the food we eat taste worse , according to recent research . A major report on the impact of global warming on food has predicted that the quality of many meats and vegetables is due to decline at temperatures increase . The researchers predict that as heatwaves become more common , meat like chicken and beef will become stringier and tougher . Carrots are likely to lose their flavour and develop a less pleasant texture . Beetroots and onions will become smaller while milk will contain less protein needed to make cheese . A separate study by marine biologists has also shown that shellfish will take on a sour flavour as our oceans acidify . They warn that as the planet 's oceans grow more acidic , due to rising carbon dioxide levels , many of our favourite seafoods could become less appetising . Shrimp raised in water with a lower pH were 2.6 times more likely to be rated as the worst tasting , while those reared in the less acidic water were 3.4 times more likely to be judged the tastiest . 'If the loss rates that we observed during the past two . decades are sustained , some ice shelves in the Amundsen and . Bellingshausen seas could disappear within this century , ' added . Scripps geophysics doctoral candidate Fernando Paolo . The melting of these ice shelves does not directly affect . sea levels because they are already floating . 'This is just like your glass of gin and tonic . When the ice . cubes melt , the level of liquid in the glass does not rise , ' Paolo said . But the floating ice shelves provide a restraining force for . land-based ice , and their reduction would increase the flow of . the ice from the land into the ocean , which would increase sea . levels . 'While it is fair to say that we 're seeing the ice shelves . responding to climate change , we do n't believe there is enough . evidence to directly relate recent ice shelf losses specifically . to changes in global temperature , ' Fricker said . Oceanographer and co-author Laurie Padman of Earth & Space . Research in Corvallis , Oregon said for a few Antarctic ice . shelves , ice loss can be related fairly directly to warming air . temperatures . Much of the increased melting elsewhere is . probably due to more warm water getting under the ice shelves . because of increasing winds near Antarctica , Padman added . Fricker said future studies will concentrate on the causes behind changes in ice shelf volume , including the effects of the atmosphere and ocean . 'We 're looking into connections between El Niño events in the tropical Pacific and changes in the Antarctic ice sheet , ' said Scripps graduate student Fernando Paolo . 'It 's very far apart but we know that these teleconnections exist . That may ultimately allow us to improve our models for predicting future ice loss . ' The researchers claim that some ice shelves in West Antarctica have lost as much as 18 per cent of their volume in the last ten years . Antarctica 's Brunt Ice Shelf is pictured .
Scientists combined 18-years of ice thinning data from three satellites . Until 2003 , the east ended losses were balanced by East Antarctic gains . But after that , western losses accelerated and gains in West Antarctic . Some ice shelves in the Amundsen could disappear within this century .