Prince Albert's trip, which follows a similar journey to the North Pole in 2006, will take in 26 scientific outposts, with meetings planned with climate change experts from 18 countries, a statement said.

The 50-year-old monarch left Punto Arenas in Chile on Monday bound for King George's islands, northeast of Antarctica, and was scheduled to arrive at the South Pole on January 14.

The palace said Albert, who made the environment a priority after acceding to the throne of his tiny Mediterranean principality in 2005, "has decided to take stock of the situation in Antarctica, under threat from global warming."

Several recent studies have suggested that Antarctica, which stores some 70 percent of the world's fresh water and until now seemed largely to have escaped the effects of global warming, is melting.

Monaco last May became the 47th state signatory of the Antarctica Treaty which regulates human activities on the continent.