The Wilkes Basin is considered to be the largest marine-based drainage basin in East Antarctica, and may be in a state of marine ice sheet instability, caused by warm water intrusion into the shelf cavities.
[2] It was named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (US-ACAN) (1961) for the proximity of the western portion of this feature to Wilkes Land, and for the explorations along George V Coast by the United States Exploring Expedition (1838–42) under Lieutenant Charles Wilkes, USN.
A study reported in Nature Climate Change on May 5, 2014[3] says the marine ice trapped in the basin is at risk of melting over the next 200 years.
The associated change in ice–albedo feedback would be expected to raise the global temperature by an additional 0.05 °C.
[6][7] This article incorporates public domain material from "Wilkes Basin".