Climate Change

Issue Date: 9th December 2004









24p x 2 Larsen Ice Shelf / Annual Temperature Trends since 1950
In 1998 scientists from the British Antarctic Survey predicted that the warming experienced in the Antarctic Peninsula region put several ice shelves at risk. This prediction was dramatically realised in 2002 when, in less than a month, 500 billion tonnes of ice from the Larsen B ice shelf broke up into thousands of small icebergs. The latest published research shows that as a result of the ice shelf collapse, the glaciers that fed the ice shelf have accelerated and thinned. This suggests that ice shelves may have an important role in stabilising the ice sheet in Antarctica, and imply that the future loss of the largest ice shelves in the Antarctic could eventually cause accelerated and dramatic sea level rise.

42p x 2 Ice Core Drilling / Ice Core Measurements
Over the last decade a team of scientists from 10 European nations has been conducting an ice drilling project deep in the Antarctic continent. Results published in June 2004 show information about climate change and changes in atmospheric gases over the last 740,000 years. During this period, eight cycles of ice age, followed by a warm period (like the present) have occurred. Based on past trends, the current warm period would naturally be a long one, lasting many thousands of years into the future. However, the carbon dioxide concentration is at its highest for at least the last half a million years, and this is likely to change the natural evolution of climate.

50p x 2 Rise in Air Temperatures Faraday Station / Antarctic Pearlwort
Antarctic pearlwort (Colobanthus quitensis) is one of only two flowering plants to have successfully colonised Antarctica, and only in the western Antarctic Peninsula, South Shetland and South Orkney Islands. Until recently its seeds often failed to mature because of the short inhospitable summer climate. However, over the past 50 years, and particularly since the mid-1980s, mean summer temperatures have increased by up to 2.5°C, producing warmer and longer growing seasons. This has resulted in a substantial increase in ripe seed and successful germination. This response has lead to a massive population explosion of seedlings and small plants in many areas


Technical Details:
Release Date 9 December 2004
Designer Andrew Robinson
Printer BDT International Security Printing
Process Lithography
Size 28.45 x 42.58mm
Sheet Size 20
Watermark CA Spiral
Perforation 14 per 2cms



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