Danger point reached at Antarctica

It’s hard enough to see the forest for the trees let alone see the ice for the snow, which is why it’s difficult to visualise the Antarctica being 12 million square kilometres covered in 30 million cubic kilometres of ice!

But, if you imagine the size of North America, then you’ll get a rough idea of the size of this extremely chilly, isolated continent.

Recently, the Hawke's Bay branch of the Royal Society of New Zealand listened to Victoria University professor Peter Barrett speak about the current climate of Antarctica, and where it’s heading in the future.

“Research over many years has shown that Antarctica was once green, a land of plains, forests and animals, and that it acquired an extensive ice cover around 34 million years ago, probably caused by the decline of atmospheric carbon dioxide levels.