RISING temperatures have left an indelible mark on the frozen continent - 8,000 sq km of ice sheets hundreds of metres thick have been lost in the past 50 years - as the mercury in this region has climbed by 2.5C it) these many years. Two UK-based Antarctic survey glaciotogists, David Vaughan and Chris Doake, say that the breaking of the ice shelves was predicted in 1978 by a US geologist, John Mercer. The Antarctica is considered to be an indicator of global warming. In only 50 days last year, 1,300 Sit km of the Larsen ice shelf broke off from the main continental ice sheet, sending chunks of icebergs into the Weddell Sea. This has led to the changing of the map of Antarctica.
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