Scientists on Antarctic climate trip

SCIENTISTS set off to Antarctica yesterday to see if the ice sheets at the edge of the vast continent are melting faster and whether the Southern Ocean is soaking up less climate-warming carbon dioxide.

The Southern Ocean absorbs a large amount of the CO2 emitted by industry, power stations and transport, acting as a brake on climate change.

"Some recent results suggest the Southern Ocean is becoming less effective at absorbing CO2 than it used to be," said Steve Rintoul of Australia's government-backed research arm, the Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation.

"If it were to become less effective in absorbing it, that would tend to accelerate the rate of climate change. Our measurements of how much carbon dioxide is accumulating will provide a critical test of this hypothesis."