Booth Island & Vernadsky Station
Late yesterday evening we crossed the Antarctic Circle northbound and arrived this morning in the vicinity of Booth Island which forms one side of the famed Lemaire Channel. In traveling north we have returned to the land of the chinstrap and gentoo penguins, neither of which breeds below the Antarctic Circle. It is a measure of how well the Adélie penguin is adapted to life in Antarctica that the species seems to prefer conditions farther south. Indeed, it is likely that the north-western part of the Antarctic Peninsula is almost too warm for Adélie penguins, and getting warmer.
Climate studies on the Antarctic Peninsula have shown that the region has warmed year-round by about 3°C over the past 50 years - the fastest warming recorded anywhere on the planet over that period. This increase has been linked to a reduction in sea ice cover in the area and a decline in Adélie penguins, most likely because the winter sea ice is an important habitat for krill, the staple food source for Adélie penguins. At the same time, the gentoo penguin population on the peninsula has increased, both in terms of overall numbers and also extending their range to the south. Gentoo penguins are more typically a species of relatively warmer climes farther north, such as South Georgia and the Falkland Islands, and as a result they have been able to prosper on a warmer peninsula. They are also less of a krill specialist than Adélie penguins.
This morning we landed on Booth Island, one of few sites on the peninsula where all three species of brushtail penguin breed, but for how much longer? The Adélie penguin population here has declined from 100 pairs in 1983 to 10 pairs today, counted by our on board Oceanites researchers. Over the same period gentoo penguins at Booth Island have increased from 400 pairs to 1,200 pairs.
This afternoon, we visited the Ukrainian scientific base of Vernadsky Station. With the breakup of the Soviet Union the newly established country of Ukraine became a signatory to the Antarctic Treaty and established a presence in Antarctica by purchasing Faraday Station from the British for the sum of one pound. A good deal for the British, who would otherwise have been faced with the expensive responsibility of removing the unwanted buildings. Another part of the deal was the continuation of the climate monitoring research started by the British, adding to this invaluable long term set of data.
It is this data that allows us to document the increase in temperature around the peninsula and make the link with the changing penguin populations. It is somehow fitting that this year gentoo penguins started breeding at Vernadsky Station; for now the most southerly breeding gentoo penguins in this warming world.
Late yesterday evening we crossed the Antarctic Circle northbound and arrived this morning in the vicinity of Booth Island which forms one side of the famed Lemaire Channel. In traveling north we have returned to the land of the chinstrap and gentoo penguins, neither of which breeds below the Antarctic Circle. It is a measure of how well the Adélie penguin is adapted to life in Antarctica that the species seems to prefer conditions farther south. Indeed, it is likely that the north-western part of the Antarctic Peninsula is almost too warm for Adélie penguins, and getting warmer.
Climate studies on the Antarctic Peninsula have shown that the region has warmed year-round by about 3°C over the past 50 years - the fastest warming recorded anywhere on the planet over that period. This increase has been linked to a reduction in sea ice cover in the area and a decline in Adélie penguins, most likely because the winter sea ice is an important habitat for krill, the staple food source for Adélie penguins. At the same time, the gentoo penguin population on the peninsula has increased, both in terms of overall numbers and also extending their range to the south. Gentoo penguins are more typically a species of relatively warmer climes farther north, such as South Georgia and the Falkland Islands, and as a result they have been able to prosper on a warmer peninsula. They are also less of a krill specialist than Adélie penguins.
This morning we landed on Booth Island, one of few sites on the peninsula where all three species of brushtail penguin breed, but for how much longer? The Adélie penguin population here has declined from 100 pairs in 1983 to 10 pairs today, counted by our on board Oceanites researchers. Over the same period gentoo penguins at Booth Island have increased from 400 pairs to 1,200 pairs.
This afternoon, we visited the Ukrainian scientific base of Vernadsky Station. With the breakup of the Soviet Union the newly established country of Ukraine became a signatory to the Antarctic Treaty and established a presence in Antarctica by purchasing Faraday Station from the British for the sum of one pound. A good deal for the British, who would otherwise have been faced with the expensive responsibility of removing the unwanted buildings. Another part of the deal was the continuation of the climate monitoring research started by the British, adding to this invaluable long term set of data.
It is this data that allows us to document the increase in temperature around the peninsula and make the link with the changing penguin populations. It is somehow fitting that this year gentoo penguins started breeding at Vernadsky Station; for now the most southerly breeding gentoo penguins in this warming world.
