A research team funded by NASA and the National Science Foundation (NSF) is set to fly to the Antarctic next month to study the rate of how glaciers are being drained into the sea due the changes in climate patterns.

The team would be drilling at one of most hard-to-reach areas in Antarctica. Their study would involve measuring the changes in the waters circulating under an active ice sheet.

"The project aims to determine the underlying causes behind why Pine Island Glacier has begun to flow more rapidly and discharge more ice into the ocean," said Scott Borg, director of NSF's Division of Antarctic Sciences, as quoted in a report in Psyorg.com.

"This could have a significant impact on global sea-level rise over the coming century."

Stronger westerly winds have been known to push cold water away from the region, allowing warm water, which usually settles below the continental shelf, to rise. The warm water in turn causes glaciers to melt.

The team would confirm how much ice had melted, so that they can accurately measure the rate at which sea-level is rising due to the melting glaciers.Satellite measurement had revealed extensive loss of ice in the area, while surrounding glaciers are showing signs of thinning.

The region, where the team intends to do their study, poses a lot of challenges. Robert Bindschadler, an emeritus glaciologist with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and leader of the Pine Island Glacier ice shelf project, was the first to set foot in the area in 2008.

Experts doubt that it was even possible to enter the iceshelf and make the necessary observations, but Bindschadler said that he was able to locate an area where helicopters could land and equipments can be transported.

"The Pine Island Glacier ice shelf continues to be the place where the action is taking place in Antarctica," Bindschadler said.

"It only can be understood by making direct measurements, which is hard to do. We're doing this hard science because it has to be done. The question of how and why it is melting is even more urgent than it was when we first proposed the project over five years ago," he added.