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 26 times more likely to be rated as the worst tasting, while those reared in the less acidic water were 34 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 don'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 
west antarctic 2003 18 years this century amundsen east antarctic
scientists combined 18 years of ice thinning data from three satellites  until 2003, west antarctic losses were balanced by east antarctic gains  but after that, western losses accelerated and gains in the east ended  some ice shelves in the amundsen  could disappear within this century 