Major climate study focuses on poles

An international programme is being launched to investigate the effects of global warming on the Arctic and Antarctic ice sheets.

Scientists from around the world will conduct co-ordinated research in a collaborative programme called the International Polar Year (IPY) that will run from March 1, 2007 to March 9, 2009.

More than 200 projects are planned involving 50,000 people from more than 60 nations. Scientists will monitor changes to permafrost, the melting of polar ice sheets and marine life in the regions.

The research will provide a baseline for understanding future environmental changes.

Dr Robin Bell, Chair of the US National Committee for IPY said: "This program is incredibly important because the poles are changing faster than anywhere else in our planet and while they seem remote and off the map, what's happening there will influence our society and societies around the world."

The ice in both polar regions is melting more rapidly than anywhere else, leading to rises in sea levels and possibly to dramatic changes in ocean currents and food chains.

World scientists predicted this month that average world temperatures will rise by between 1.8 and 4C this century due mainly to carbon gases from burning fossil fuels for power and transport.

This is a global average, however, and the temperature rises at the poles are expected to exceed that by a large margin.

The Antarctic ice sheet is up to three miles thick in places and it holds 90 per cent of the world's fresh water.

It is also crucial to the circulation of the world's ocean currents and therefore to planetary air circulation.

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