The West Antarctic Ice Sheet, 25.4 million cubic kilometers, 6.1 million cubic miles, is on track for an 'inevitable' melt, NYT:

The collapse of large parts of the ice sheet in West Antarctica appears to have begun and is almost certainly unstoppable, with global warming accelerating the pace of the disintegration, two groups of scientists reported Monday.

The finding, which had been feared by some scientists for decades, means that a rise in global sea level of at least 10 feet may now be inevitable. The rise may continue to be relatively slow for at least the next century or so, the scientists said, but sometime after that it will probably speed up so sharply as to become a crisis...

The article says the loss of this ice sheet was first warned about, to much derision, in 1978. The West Antarctic Sheet sits in a deep bowl shaped region of ocean floor, and as the exposed rim of the sheet melts, warm water can intrude beneath the main mass of the ice causing it to melt.

Not to worry, the 10 foot sea level rise is over 50 elections away. We can still argue over gay marriage, abortions or how easy it should be for fossil fuel billionaires to buy elections in the interim. There is also time for political hacks to spout about what they 'believe' Senator Marco Rubio:

“I do not believe that human activity is causing these dramatic changes to our climate the way these scientists are portraying it..

Translation, I believe whatever I believe it takes for me to get elected in the Republican Party, which believes in nothing else but getting into power to serve the rich.

A century is enough time for 4 more generations of Rush Limbaughs and Republicans to deny they had anything to do with this impending catastrophe. Cutting taxes, jawboning on talk radio, or calling climate change 'The Greatest Hoax' won't make 25.4 million cubic kilometers of water disappear. And there is more ice to melt after that ice sheet is gone, including Greenland.

Odd that the Party of small government is against policy today that would at least slow or mitigate future economic calamity.  While also, in their denial of science, make mandatory a huge expansion of government intervention at some future time to ensure national survival.