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The article focuses on the impact of climate change on the world's oceans. It cites a report compiled for this journal by Benjamin Hamlington, an ocean scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratorys, which stated that the faster melting of Greenland's ice has increased the rate of ocean's rise to 4.8 millimeters per year. It is noted that group led by physical oceanographer Sönke Dangendorf has used tide gauge readings that show that seas have risen 20 centimeters since 1900.

The article discusses the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment, which admitted that poorly characterized uncertainties have prevented a best estimate or upper bound on sea-level rise that has been catalyzed by accelerations in outland glaciers of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. Research on the topic is presented chronologically, beginning with the discovery that surface meltwater can facilitate summer ice flow. The difficulty associated with accruing quantitative research is examined, and the ambiguity of the relationship between ice sheets and their underlying beds is highlighted.