He explains that most ice shelves in Antarctica are flat and clean, like slices of wedding cake. In contrast, many sections of the Thwaites ice shelf are a jumbled mess, with big crevasses and sloping shoulders. To Larter, the sloping shoulders of the ice shelf mean there is a lot of melting going on at the base of the ice sheet, which means there is probably a lot of warm circumpolar deep water flowing in below.
