| Summary: | A significant focus of contemporary scientific investigation has been the issue of possible global warming. The notion that the earth's climate is heating up has crucial implications for the future. Thus understanding and further quantifying the possible existence of global warming is extremely important to future populations. With 30,000,000 km3 of ice comprising the Antarctic cryosphere (Radoc, 1985), of considerable concern is how this resource will react to possible global warming. If all Of this Antarctic ice was to melt, the potential for sea level rise has been calculated to be as much as seventy metres (Radoc, 1985). With human occupancy abundantly associated with coastal and flood plain regions Of the earth, such sea level rise would no doubt prove catastrophic. Therefore, understanding the history of the Antarctic ocean-clyosphere system - in-particular, its history of response to climate change - is important in assessing future response of the Antarctic region to global warming. This paper is a review of the literature associated with two hypothesis of Antarctic ice sheet behaviour derived as from analysis of warmer climates of the Pliocene, The two hypotheses that exist are very different to each other and known as the stability hypothesis and the instability hypothesis respectively. By way Of introduction, the stability hypothesis is based on the idea that the Antarctic ocean-cryosphere system remained relatively stable during this period of warmer climate. Opposite to this is the instability hypothesis, which is based on the belief that much of the Antarctic ice sheet melted during the Pliocene period of warmer climate. A significant focus of contemporary scientific investigation has been the issue of possible global warming. The notion that the earth's climate is heating up has crucial implications for the future. Thus understanding and further quantifying the possible existence of global warming is extremely important to future populations. With 30,000,000 km3 of ice comprising the Antarctic ...
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