The polar regions are predicted to undergo rapid climatic change

Concerns have been raised that the high amount of carbon found in Arctic soils could be released into the atmosphere.

The trips have been funded by grants worth a total of �600,000 from the UK Natural Environment Research Council.

The expeditions are due to take place during the International Polar Year in 2007-08.

The university's Dr Philip Wookey, leading the Arctic team, will investigate the decomposition of organic matter in soil and how the process is affected by environmental change.

'Vulnerable to change'

Meanwhile, Prof David Hopkins, head of the School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, will be working in the remote regions of the Antarctic where environmental conditions are extremely harsh because of the low temperatures and dryness.

Dr Wookey said: "The polar regions are predicted to undergo the most rapid climatic changes as a result of the greenhouse effect, and the organisms that inhabit them may also be especially vulnerable to change.

"Another frequently ignored issue is that the Arctic stores enormous amounts of carbon in soils.

"There are real concerns that much of this carbon could end up in the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide and methane, which are both powerful greenhouse gases."