Totten Glacier is the largest outlet of ice to the ocean in East Antarctica. The glacier has been thinning for many years and, according to new research, the news just got worse.

Geophysicists from the Jackson School of Geosciences at the University of Texas at Austin have discovered two seafloor gateways that could allow warm water to flow in to the interior base of the Totten Glacier.

If that glacier were to completely collapse, it alone could lead to a global sea level rise of 11 feet or more, which is the equivalent of the sea level increase from the loss of the entire West Antarctic Ice Sheet.

Such an increase would mean large scale, permanent flooding in many coastal areas of the world. Current EPA models predict considerable flooding for much of the US with a global sea level increase of only two to three feet.

“We now know there are avenues for the warmest waters in East Antarctica to access the most sensitive areas of Totten Glacier,” said Jamin Greenbaum, a UTIG Ph.D. candidate and lead author of the study published in the March 16 edition of the journal Nature Geoscience in a statement.

According to researchers, ice loss to the ocean could soon become irreversible unless there is a rapid change in oceanic and atmospheric conditions.

The team is specifically concerned about the deepening shape of the Totten Glacier’s catchment from which ice and snow flow to the coast of Antarctica.

“The catchment of Totten Glacier is covered by nearly 2½ miles of ice, filling a sub-ice basin reaching depths of at least one mile below sea level,” Donald Blankenship, a researcher at UTIG.

The basin, which is roughly the size of California, is especially susceptible to rapid ice loss from warm ocean currents because much of it lies below sea level.

Previous research has shown that the basin has emptied and filled up again several times in the past. The researchers behind the current paper believe that the process could be starting again and that they now understand why .

“We’ve basically shown that the submarine basins of East Antarctica have similar configurations and coastal vulnerabilities to the submarine basins of West Antarctica that we’re so worried about, and that warm ocean water, which is having a huge impact in West Antarctica, is affecting East Antarctica, as well,” said Blankenship.

The authors show that the deeper of the two gateways is a “three-mile-wide seafloor valley” which runs from the ocean beneath the glacier. Previous satellite imagery had failed to penetrate the ice and showed that area of Totten to be resting on solid ground rather than floating.

Using careful analysis of ice-penetrating radar, the researchers were able to show that the are is brighter and smoother than the surrounding area, indicating that water is flowing beneath it and that the area is being eroded from beneath.

“Now we know the ocean is melting ice in an area of the glacier that we thought was totally cut off before. Knowing this will improve predictions of ice melt and the timing of future glacier retreat,” said Greenbaum.

The team, which worked in cooperation with researchers from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and France reports that, as with the West Antarctic, the Totten Glacier could take centuries to collapse completely. However, there is no definite timeline and both areas of the Antarctic are being carefully studied.