ANTARCTIC SCIENCE - A BRITISH PERSPECTIVE

Antarctica is probably the least known of the world's regions. Intensi ve research by over 20 nations during the past 30 years has demonstrat ed increasingly the integral and often critical role of Antarctica in the natural systems of planet Earth. The Antarctic is fundamental in d riving the global atmospheric regime owing to its strong negative radi ation budget, and the Southern Ocean, linking the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans, plays an influential, but not well understood role as a major sink for carbon dioxide. Man induced increases in 'greenhouse ' gases are likely to have profound effects on the lower atmosphere of the South Polar regions where general circulation modelling predicts a strong temperature change response. The reaction of the ice sheet to warming is complex and includes ice shelf-sheet destruction as well a s increased snow accumulation, both of which affect world sea level. A ntarctica also forms an ideal observatory for studying the processes w hereby solar radiation and particle outflow directly influence the Ear th's environment through energy transfer to the upper atmosphere. The presence of chlorafluorocarbons in the stratosphere has resulted in th e depletion of ozone in the austral spring, a discovery by the British Antarctic Survey that above all others has given a place to Antarctic a on the world environmental stage.