How rapidly can ice sheets retreat?

Landforms across the mid-Norwegian sea floor reveal that a former ice sheet retreated at up to 600 metres per day at the end of the last ice age. Pulses of similarly rapid retreat could soon be observed across flat-bedded areas of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Ridges on the sea floor indicate that a former ice sheet retreated at up to 600 metres per day, with implications for contemporary ice loss and sea-level rise.