Plain language summary:

The study led by Utrecht climate researcher Melchior van Wessem has found that some cold ice shelves in Antarctica, which were previously thought to remain stable in the under moderate warming scenarios, may actually be vulnerable. This is because the relatively low amount of snowfall on cold ice shelves like the Ross ice shelf may cause meltwater ponds to form at an average annual temperature of -15 degrees Celsius. If this happens, the adjacent land ice could flow more rapidly into the ocean, leading to faster sea level rise. This highlights the importance of accurately simulating snowfall in Antarctica in order to make more accurate predictions about melting and sea level rise.