Climate change risk to icy East Antarctica Is Antarctica really safe from climate change? A new study suggests even the icy east of the frozen continent could be at risk, with consequences for global sea levels. Scientists say the changes could be irreversible. While the Arctic is melting twice as fast as the rest of the planet, the icy regions around the south pole were long considered immune to climate change. But melting glaciers on the Antarctic Peninsula in recent years sparked doubts in the scientific community about just how stable the western region of Antarctica really is. Only the huge icy vastness of Eastern Antarctica still appeared to be safe from the perils of a warming climate. Now, experts from Germany's Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) have published findings indicating that this too might no longer be the case.