The great defrost: Mridula Ramesh, on the perils of a melting Antarctica

Antarctica — the continent of extremes and contradictions — tells the story of how climate affects life on Earth. It is the world’s coldest and driest continent. Yet, it holds most of the planet’s fresh water, frozen in the giant, kilometres-thick ice sheet that covers its land. This water is, and should remain, largely frozen, because from our perspective, the problem starts when it begins to melt.