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Considered the fifth largest continent next to North/South America, Africa and Asia -- approximately 98% of Antarctica is covered by the Antarctic ice sheet measuring 1.0 mi thick. The Antarctica as we know it today was basically formed over 25 million years ago. Consisting of 90% of the world's ice, if it melts down due to global warming it will raise the world's sea levels about 200 feet.

Techniques such as satellite imagery, remote sensing, and ground-penetrating radar are showing scientists today the structures located beneath the ice.  And what is being found is that even though the Arctic ice is shrinking at record rates, the Antarctic sea ice is doing just the opposite  but on a temporary basis. Estimated to last for another decade before its decline, CFCs and ozone-depleting chemicals are allowing Antarctica to take a break before beginning its massive melt-down.

John Turner of the British Antarctic Survey has announced that satellite images are showing that the size of the Antarctica sea ice has been increasing every month of the year except in January. But what has everyone confused is why it is increasing during a period of global warming, instead of decreasing as expected. One new study by Turner shows changing weather patterns around the ozone hole above the Antarctica. This changed area has cooled the air above East Antarctica while warm air is drawn over the Western Antarctica.

According to Turner, the ozone hole will eventually begin to heal in the next 50 to 100 years, if simultaneously the greenhouse gases will be rising. The next change will occur within the next decade if greenhouse gases continue to increase. Eric Steig of the University of Washington-Seattle has demonstrated that the Antarctic continent over the last 50 years has warmed by .05 degrees C. This difference hides strong regional differences between West and East Antarctica, with warming occurring over the western side where large ice shelves have been disintegrating – such as the Larsen ice shelf and possibly the Wilkins ice shelf that is expected to collapse in the near future.

Simply put, global warming is when the warming of our planet becomes "warmer" than it should be. And a foreseeable future in the Antarctica region seems to be a major focus of some of our top scientists. Accessed continuously, recently discovered are changes that have already developed and with more and more newer research going on, many consider global warming and Antarctica synonymous terms.  With this in mind, research findings published in the British journal "Nature" demonstrates that global warming will be affecting all of Antarctic, based on the fact that the average temperatures of earth have been rising for the past 50 years.