Nearly 1,500 academics, researchers and scientists specializing in Antarctica gathered in southern Chile for the 11th Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research conference this week to share the most cutting-edge research from the vast white continent.

Nearly every aspect of science, from geology to biology and glaciology to arts, was covered but a major undercurrent ran through the conference. Antarctica is changing, faster than expected.

Extreme weather events in the ice-covered continent were no longer hypothetical presentations, but first-hand accounts from researchers about heavy rainfall, intense heat waves and sudden Foehn (strong dry winds) events at research stations that led to mass melting, giant glacier break-offs and dangerous weather conditions with global implications.

With detailed weather station and satellite data dating back only about 40 years, scientists wondered whether these events meant Antarctica had reached a tipping point, or a point of accelerated and irreversible sea ice loss from the West Antarctic ice sheet.

"There's uncertainty about whether the current observations indicate a temporary dip or a downward plunge (of sea ice)," said Liz Keller, a paleoclimate specialist from the Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand that led a session about predicting and detecting tipping points in Antarctica.

NASA estimates, opens new tab show the Antarctic ice sheet has enough ice to raise the global mean sea level by up to 58 meters. Studies have shown that about a third of the world's population lives below 100 vertical meters of sea level.

While it's tough to determine whether we've hit a "point of no return," Keller says that it's clear the rate of change is unprecedented.

"You might see the same rise in CO2 over thousands of years, and now it's happened in 100 years," Keller said.

Mike Weber, a paleooceanographer from Germany's University of Bonn, who specializes in Antarctic ice sheet stability, says sediment records dating back 21,000 years show similar periods of accelerated ice melt.

The ice sheet has experienced similar accelerated ice mass loss at least eight times, Weber said, with acceleration beginning over a few decades that kick off a phase of ice loss that can last centuries, leading to dramatically higher sea levels around the world.

Weber says ice loss has picked up over the last decade, and the question is whether it's already kicked off a centuries-long phase or not.

"Maybe we're entering such a phase right now," Weber said. "If we are, at least for now, there will be no stopping it."