British Antarctic Survey: What does it mean for penguins?

Climate change has had a major effect on the Antarctic regions, especially on the emperor penguin population. A combination of warming temperatures and increasingly powerful storms has made the species vulnerable as a whole. According to a recent report made by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), climate change has contributed to a total breeding failure in many emperor colonies, unmatched by any before seen in historical record.

For the Halley Bay population in the Weddell Sea, rising temperatures have proven fatal for breeding and survival. In 2016, the Antarctic survey reported that thousands of emperor penguin chicks drowned due to broken sea ice. Typically, the penguins rely on stable ice shelves starting from the breeding season in April to the end of December to raise their young. However, recurring storms in 2017, 2018 and 2019 have resulted in the deaths of many more chicks, and increasingly unreliable ice. Previously, breeding pairs numbered anywhere from 14,000 to 25,000. New predictions from the British Antarctic Survey are bleak, stating that the global penguin population will likely decline 50-70% by the end of the century. These estimates are backed by VHR satellite imagery released in the new report, which has monitored penguin populations of the region over the span of years.

As well as facing challenges from ice, the Bay population may suffer from a growing ice chasm forming near their territory. Should the ice become more unstable, a solitary iceberg will form and prove disastrous for the remaining penguins.

Although the prospects are grim for the Halley Bay population, the Dawson Lambton colony further south has experienced an unprecedented gain in numbers. The increase from 2,000 to 15,000 breeding pairs indicates that many penguins from the Bay population have moved further south in search of better conditions. Their resilience brings hope for the species in the future.

Article by MoCo Student staff writer Amal Abdulkadir of Richard Montgomery High School