A STUDENT has just returned from a groundbreaking expedition to Antarctica researching the effects and possible solutions to global warming.

Christy Hehir was handed the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to visit the Antarctic peninsula as the UK's student representative on the trip, organised by the Polar Education Foundation.

The 21-year-old from Upton joined 63 students from 14 different countries in examining the big environmental issues facing the poles today, such as climate change, global warming and over-fishing.

The expedition is part of a large-scale international scientific programme called the International Polar Years.

Christy's research, as part of her final year dissertation at Cardiff's UWIC University, focused on the environmental impact of tourism.

She said: "Antarctica is our last hope to have an unspoilt, peaceful and truly unique environment.

"I am determined to help protect the poles so that the next generation can visit such places and become great ambassadors and scientists for its protection."

Among the countless awe-inspiring experiences on the trip, Christy watched humpback whales and penguins in the wild, sat on frozen seas and experienced 24-hour daylight.

"No words can describe the scale, sights and sounds of the most breathtaking place in the world," she said. "You have this almost perfect, unspoilt place that somehow still exists in our world."

Experts on the trip including Dr Fred Roots, who has an Antarctic mountain range named after him, Dr Roy Fritz' Koerner, known as one of the greatest polar explorers of all, and Dr Ingrid Vesser, who had devoted her life to conservation of the killer whale.

Christy added: "Everyone has come back total Antarctic ambassadors, determined that we can combat global warming."