More on Global Warming

Bill Fraser is an ecologist from Montana studying Adelie Penguins. Over the past 30 years, the Adelie Penguins, living on the Antarctic Peninsula, have diminished by 70%! Fraser says that the temperature there has increased by six degrees Celsius over the last fifty years.

The ice at sea is supposed to cover the oceans for hundreds of miles, coating the ocean with an impermeable cover. Unfortunately, the cover isn't as strong as it used to be, therefore, more "water vapor can evaporate into the atmosphere." This comes back to the earth as either rain or snow. In addition, this increase of snow fall near the Antarctic is detrimental to the penguins' breeding seasons. Adelie Penguins had been hit the worst. Adelies can not breed properly until their nesting sites are snow free. If they try to nest on top of the snow, their eggs will be destroyed when their nests overflow. Fraser is worried that the Adelie species will be completely gone in the next ten years. This picture shown below is of the Adelie Penguins. Don't they look fake?

I am so disheartened to hear about these penguins diminishing so quickly. Unfortunately, penguins aren't the only animals that global warming is affecting.
















Grossman, Daniel. (2005). Observing Those Who Observe. Nieman Reports, 59 (4). Retrieved on March 19, 2008, from Academic Search Premier.