Antarctic ice typically doesn’t melt from the top—it melts from below, where the ice meets the ocean. As the oceans warm, Antarctica’s surface temperatures stay relatively cool. This disparity in temperature amplifies a wind current, the so-called westerlies that circle the southern part of the globe. By pushing the water, these winds accelerate the famed circumpolar current that swirls around Antarctica. This current carries 170 times more water than all of the Earth’s rivers combined. And with that water comes the heat it holds.
