SEA ice around the south pole has INCREASED in volume over the past 40 years, a NASA study has found. The US space agency, which is one of the world's leading campaigners to highlight the threat of global warming, now spends a chunk of its annual budget using satellite data to investigate changes in our climate. NASA experts set out to find out why the sea ice around the Antarctic was increasing in the face of global temperature increases, while ocean ice around the North Pole is retreating each year. And the study found that despite mean temperature rises in the Southern Ocean, topping those elsewhere across the globe, the Antarctic appears to have been proofed against global warming. A NASA spokesman said: "Why has the sea ice cover surrounding Antarctica been increasing slightly, in sharp contrast to the drastic loss of sea ice occurring in the Arctic Ocean? A new NASA-led study finds the geology of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean are responsible." A NASA and National Oceanic and