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Antarctica is home to a rich and diverse collection of whales, seals, penguins, albatross, fish and krill. The landmass of Antarctica holds 70% of Earth's fresh water, frozen as ice. Unlike the Arctic, where melting ice will not affect sea levels (much like ice in a drink), melting ice in Antarctica has a direct impact on sea levels. It causes them to rise.

In July 2008 the International Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research met in St Petersburg where they heard that 87% of the glaciers on the Antarctic Peninsula are in retreat – they are melting. What is unusual about the breaking up of the Wilkins ice shelf is that it is taking place in winter, a shocking surprise after scientsts in 1993 had predicted that this ice shelf would remain stable atleast until 2023, even with some rise in global temperature.

May 2008 saw 160 square kilometres break off in what was the first ever documentation of this occurring outside of the traditional summer melting. In July a further 1350 square kilometres fell away before the ocean began to freeze over during the dark winter.

In 2002 on the Antarctic Peninsula a slab of ice known as Larsen B disintegrated in the space of five days and fell into the Weddell Sea. This was no a regular block of ice – it was 200 metres high, 50 kilometres long and contained enough ice to fill the MCG 3,500 times over (or Keith Richards' scotch glass for a week). The alarming thing is that the scientists who study these things had forecast that Larsen B would be stable until 2100 – Ooops! Big Ooops.

Ever-increasing amounts of ice have fallen into the sea and melted in Western Antarctica and on the Antarctic Peninsula since 1997. Meanwhile, the Eastern Antarctic is stable, with no loss and increase in the same period. The best estimate, after studying the satellite images, is a loss of 132 billion tons of ice in Western Antarctica – up from 83 billion tons in 1996 – and a loss of 60 billion tons on the Antarctic Peninsula. (A billion tons of ice would be enough to supply Australia with drinking water for a year.)

Antarctica holds the key to our climatic history deep within its ice. The continent is covered by an average of five kilometres of ice. Scientists have drilled into this ice core to reveal tiny bubbles of air trapped in the ice up to 800,000 years ago. The ice cores show that over this period of time carbon dioxide levels have remained fairly stable - apart during the last several years when they have skyrocketed.

"The continent has become a symbol of our time. The test of man's willingness to pull back from the destruction of the Antarctic wilderness is the test also of his willingness to avert destruction globally. If he cannot succeed in Antarctica he has little chance of success elsewhere."

Edwin Mickelburgh, British Antarctic Survey, 1987.