The study is the first complete look at all of the continent's ice shelves.

这是首个对这片大陆全部冰架进行调查的研究。

But the more lakes there are, the more unstable they make the continent's ice shelf.

但融水湖数量越多，就会使得南极洲大陆的冰架越不稳固。

Taken together, the two processes have reduced the mass of Antarctica's ice shelves by 12 trillion metric tons since 1997.

自1997年以来，这两个过程加在一起已经使南极洲冰架的质量减少了12万亿吨。

It flows out into the ocean and forms an ice shelf.

它流入海洋并形成冰架。

That water is penetrating further up towards the coast of Antarctica under the ice shelf and it is undermining the ice shelves.

这些水正在进一步渗透到冰架下的南极洲海岸，并正在破坏冰架。