Most people are already aware of the persistent danger of rising global sea-levels, ostensibly caused by the overall melting of sea ice. Well, should a relatively small amount of ice melt in East Antarctica, things could get a lot worse: According to scientists from Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), should the Wilkes Basin “cork” melt, sea levels will rise unstoppably for the next several thousand years.

Wilkes basin is the largest repository of marine ice on rocky ground in East Antarctica. Presently, it’s held in place by a small rim of coastal ice, not unlike the way a cork holds wine inside a bottle. According to study co-author Anders Levermann, the loss of the cork would raise sea levels by 300-400 centimeters over the long term.

“The full sea-level rise would ultimately be up to 80 times bigger than the initial melting of the ice cork,” he says.

The issue is that while the air over Antarctica is predictably cold, global sea temperatures are on the rise. Losing the cork would make the grounding line – where the ice on the continent meets the sea and starts to float – retreat. That would put more ice in contact with the warmer sea water, triggering the waterfall melting effect. Once the cork’s gone, there isn’t much scientists can do.

Previously, scientists believed that only West Antarctica was so unstable.

“If half of that ice loss occurred in the ice-cork region, then the discharge would begin. We have probably overestimated the stability of East Antarctica so far,” says Levermann.

Scientists say the underlying cause is the emission of greenhouse gasses, which they say will lead to grave issues in the future that might not be apparent today. It’s becoming more and more apparent that climate change isn’t so much a matter of “when,” but a matter of “what?”