Greeny News

But this vision turns out to be icy extraordinary. Was for most of the past 100 million years, the South Pole a tropical paradise, it seeps.

"It is a beautiful place was green," said Professor Jane Francis, University of Leeds 's School of Earth and Environment. "Many furry mammals, including possums and beavers lived. The weather was tropical. It is only in the recent geological past, it was so cold."

Professor Francis said last week at the International Symposium on Antarctic Earth Sciences in Edinburgh. More than 500 polar researchers gathered for the latest information from their studies, research that has disturbing implications discussed at the planet 's future. Drilling and satellite surveys show the whole world, not only by the Antarctica the temperature was rising and that this affected were related closely to fluctuations in concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

"Fifty five million years old, there were more than 1,000 parts per million (ppm) carbon dioxide \ in the atmosphere," said Professor Stephen Pekar, the City University of New York. "That fueled the world enough to melt all their ice caps. Almost 200ft sea level would be higher than today."

Currently there is 390ppm CO in the atmosphere, a rise – caused by emissions from power plants, factories and lorries – from preindustrial levels of around 280ppm. This has already raised global temperatures by almost one degree Celsius. At its present rate of increase – around 2ppm a year - it will still take a long time to reach 1,000ppm.