- States that in recent decades, hundreds of glaciers draining the Antarctic Peninsula (63° to 70°S) have undergone systematic and progressive change
- States these changes are widely attributed to rapid increases in regional surface air temperature, but it is now clear that this cannot be the sole driver
- Identifies a strong correspondence between mid-depth ocean temperatures and glacier-front changes along the ~1000-kilometer western coastline
- Finds in the south, glaciers that terminate in warm Circumpolar Deep Water have undergone considerable retreat, whereas those in the far northwest, which terminate in cooler waters, have not
- Finds, furthermore, a mid-ocean warming since the 1990s in the south is coincident with widespread acceleration of glacier retreat
- Concludes that changes in ocean-induced melting are the primary cause of retreat for glaciers in this region
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