In recent years the problem of global warming and changes in the climate which accompany it have become more apparent. Increases in the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases have had a significant impact on the climate, causing a global increase of temperature of about 0.76 degrees Celcius. Accompanying this, sea level rise during the 20th century was approximately 0.17m (7). This has already lead to noticeable effects such as the majority of glaciers being in retreat, the shifting of habitats of wide numbers of species, spring arriving earlier and winter coming later in many places over the globe, and so on.

Evidence has made it apparent that the greatest severity of change has been for the polar regions of the globe, with the Arctic regions experiencing a much stronger effect than the Antarctic regions. Over the time period of the last 50 years, the Arctic has increased in temperature at a rate of two times faster than the global average, which is greater than anywhere else on the planet. The rate of temperature increase is expected to continue, and the next 100 years is expected to have a temperature increase of 4-7 degrees Celsius. (14).

The Antarctic peninsula, meanwhile, is warming faster than all of the rest of the southern hemisphere. Areas of the Western Antarctic Peninsula have experienced a temperature increase of 6 degrees Celsius. The effects of this are to replace a cold, dry, polar marine ecosystem with a warm, moist, maritime climate. These conditions are causing a decrease in the production of sea ice, with a concurrent shrinkage in sea ice area due to positive feedback mechanisms (14).