The British Antarctic Survey has been using laser beams to determine the thickness of ice in the big sheets in Greenland and Antarctica. The scientists have found that the ice is thinning quickly along the coasts. This can be seen in red in the map above.
This report was published in the journal Nature, more info and links to the paper, pictures, maps, and PR releases are here: Space Lasers Show Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets Aren't What They Used to Be.
Potential implications of melting from ice sheets are explored in a New York Times article on the loss of large sections of Vietnam's Mekong Delta from sea-level rise, and another in the Financial Times Sept. 23 on similar threats to Bangladesh, a low-lying delta region at the end of the Ganges River. A study in Nature Geoscience has explored the vulnerability of river deltas worldwide to sinking and sea rise.