Two studies were released Monday indicating that five glaciers that feed ice from Antarctica into the Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean are undergoing irreversible decline and what scientists call "the point of no return." 

The glaciers that flow into these waters can carry enough ice that would result in sea levels rising by 1.2 meters (3.9 feet) and could cascade to other sections of Antarctica's ice sheet, according to the study.

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Eric Rignot, a glaciologist at the University of California at Irvine, says the glaciers' decline will influence the adjacent sectors of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. This means that the glacial retreat could triple the already rising sea level. He said that this irreversible decline would result in a global average of three to four meters of sea-level rise. 

Rignot's study was accepted for publication in the journal of Geophysical Research Letters. 

In another study set to be published this Friday in the journal of science, the two largest glaciers, the Thwaites Glacier, are estimated to retreat from 200 to 900 years. This other study anticipates there will be modest rise in sea levels. 

However, and regardless of the time span, the melting of the glaciers, especially Thwaites, is a signal that it would be unstoppable. 

What caused the glaciers to retreat? Experts point to a confluence of factors, which include global warming and the region's under-ice terrain.

For example, the weight of the glaciers has put pressure on its crust. River valleys that used to make their way to the ocean are now valleys buried under the glacial ice held below sea level. The glaciers flow seaward until the glaciers hit barriers of elevated underwater terrain, thus, serving as a form of a natural break of the movement. 

However, human-induced climate change has changed all that. Greenhouse emissions and other pollution have affected the atmosphere's patterns where the Glaciers are. Intensified winds encircle the Antarctic and drive the glaciers deeper south as opposed to where they should be at. 

The southward movement has affected ocean currents. Warm deep water rises in the process and results in the melting of the ice from underneath. 

According to reports, if Rignot's study holds up, the climate would continue to warm and the oceans release the heat that it captured.

Tagsglaciers, global warming, melting ice caps, Thwaite