Melting sea ice in Antarctica has killed thousands of emperor penguins. Here’s everything you need to know!

A new study says that in four colonies in Antarctica’s Bellingshausen Sea, as many as 10,000 emperor penguin chicks may have died as a result of melting and cracking of sea ice beneath their breeding grounds in the last few months of the previous year. It is the first case of significant failure of emperor penguins to breed in different locations in an area due to a lack of sea ice ever recorded.

What actually happened?

Before the start of the emperor chicks’ fledging period, the period in which they gain wings and learn to swim, the sea ice disappeared. As a result, the birds either drowned or died from freezing. The research showed that these penguins could not regulate their body temperature because they were wet. What kind of study are we talking about and who presented that study?

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Study

It was on August 24 that a study titled ‘Record-low Antarctic sea ice extent in 2022 leads to catastrophic breeding failure of emperor penguins’ was published in the journal Communications Earth and environment. Norman Ratcliffe and Peter T. Fretwell of the British Antarctic Survey (Cambridge) conducted the study. Independent researcher from Paris Aude Boutet was also one of the researchers.

Since 2016, the total region of the Antarctic seas with at least 15 percent sea ice coverage has steadily decreased, and the total region of frozen water surrounding the continent has fallen to new record lows each year. This means that more than 90 percent of emperor penguin colonies are at risk of extinction by the end of this century if the planet warms at this rate.

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What do the findings suggest?

The findings are based on five emperor penguin colonies located in the Belligshausen Sea area, west of the Antarctic Peninsula, with the help of satellite images taken between 2018 and 2022. The researchers studied the birds’ activity by tracking their secretions, known as guano, which leave a brown mark on the sea ice. Verdi Inlet, Bryant Coast, Smyley Island, Pfrogner Point and Rothschild Island were points where colonies were surveyed.

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Categories: Optical Illusion
Source: newstars.edu.vn

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