A new NASA study challenges an accepted belief that Antarctica has lost billions of tonnes more ice to melt, than it has gained through snowfall.

Instead, according to the study findings, the vast East Antarctic ice sheet accumulated snow at a high enough rate in recent decades to outweigh losses elsewhere around the frozen continent, and to reduce sea level.

The fate of Antarctica's land-bound ice is seen as a critical component of the future climate change jigsaw. It would raise sea level by 60 metres if it all melted, according to the US Snow and Ice Data Centre.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's report said in 2013 that studies concluded there was a net loss of Antarctic sheet ice – though they differed over how much.

The IPCC found that the losses probably increased from about 30 billion tonnes per year between 1992 and 2001, to about 147 billion tonnes between 2002 and 2011.

But NASA-Goddard glaciologist Jay Zwally has confirmed that his complex re-examination of satellite data challenges the accepted view of overall loss.

After refining and recalibrating the measurements over a similar period to the IPCC's record, Dr Zwally reports gains have outweighed losses.

In a paper to be published in the Journal of Glaciology, Dr Zwally concluded that instead of losing ice, the total Antarctic ice sheet increased by around 112 billion tonnes annually from 1991 to 2001.

"During the later 2003-2008 period, the gain exceeded the loss by a similar 82 gigatonnes, equivalent to 0.23 mm of sea level depletion," the paper said.

This was no thanks to West Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula, where glaciers are running faster into warming seas after the collapse of protective ice shelves.

"Although the overall balance of the Antarctic Ice Sheet shows no significant change over the 17 years, significant increases in the dynamic losses occurred from the Antarctic Peninsula and several West Antarctic coastal drainage systems," he said.

Instead Dr Zwally found the much larger East Antarctic ice sheet was thickening, and should provide a significant buffer against mass loss – at least for the next 20 years.

By then, he said, the net positive balance of the Antarctic ice sheet should have decreased from the recent 82 billion tonnes each year, to about zero.

"However, compensating increases in snowfall with climate warming may also be expected."