Not a lot, you might think. What is uncertain is how much the changes in the planet caused by warming will themselves amplify that warming. Most solar heat reaching polar regions is reflected from the white ice right back into space. If we melt some of the ice caps, less heat will be reflected. Global warming will also evaporate more water from the oceans into the air.
Water vapour is the most important greenhouse gas of all.
So again, extra warming is likely. Scientists have warned for some time that the polar regions may be the first to show signs of global warming just as they were for the thinning ozone layer. Some of the most persuasive evidence that warming is already occurring here comes from the British research bases in Antarctica that first spotted the Antarctic ozone hole a decade ago. BAS scientists believe the drastic warming may be a consequence of the breakup of ice sheets in the region, a classic example of the positive feedbacks to global warming predicted by climate modelers. The Wardie ice shelf near the peninsula has shrunk by more than 1,000km2 in the past 25 years.