The impact will not, however, be sufficiently energetic to melt the lunar soil and release any water that is bound in hydrated minerals.

ECONOMIST: Creative destruction

This triggered an early spring melt, which made the ice vulnerable to the impact of high summer temperatures.

BBC: Record ice loss in Arctic

Taken together with the ice melt estimate, the scientists say the overall, maximum impact on the seas by 2100 will be a rise of 69cm - just 10cm higher than the IPCC projection in 2007, termed AR4.

BBC: 'Best estimate' for impact of melting ice on sea level rise