Antarctica
© Lorenzo MittigaHow the climate changes
I remember the words of Amundsen, the Norwegian explorer who was the first to reach the South Pole in 1911: «Antarctica is a colder place than Siberia, drier than the Gobi Desert, windier than Mount Washington, more desolate than the corner more desert than Arabia».
Today Antarctica was chosen for its symbolic importance: an "alien" place, still largely untouched, a fragile ecosystem where, due to the extreme environmental conditions, the effects of global warming are among the most evident on the planet.
The regions of Antarctica are reacting in a particularly evident way to climate change compared to other areas of the Earth. Today the study of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean provides significant elements to focus on climate change and to be able to quantify the influence of human activities on global warming, in order to implement possible intervention and correction measures.
These results highlight the need for even more stringent biosecurity measures to limit human impacts in Antarctica. Today it is a frequent destination for tourist cruises (about 60,000 visitors a year, a growing figure, according to the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators, IAATO) and there were found nine non-native invertebrate species.
We are the aliens in Antarctica, let's remember that.
Never come within five meters of a penguin and never hinder her path, tells to us the Antarctic guide during her briefing. “If a penguin gets in our way, we have to stop and wait for it to move. And remember that the bite of furious seals is dangerous. Better to keep a safe distance of at least 15 meters. If you see petrels flying overhead, stop and retrace your steps, you certainly have entered their territory" she continues.
Prior and during the excursion on land we had some important rules to respect: we had to clean and vacuum our clothes, backpacks, gloves, to eliminate any spore and foreign organism that could land and take root; the boots must be disinfected and immersed in a decontaminating liquid; we had to ensure our personal belongings (cap, gloves); given that Antarctica is a windy and unpredictable place, stay focused when, for example, we took something out of our pockets or backpack.
Climate change may shrink Adélie penguin range by end of century. Climate has influenced the distribution patterns of Adélie penguins across Antarctica for millions of years. The geologic record tells us that as glaciers expanded and covered Adélie breeding habitats with ice, penguins in the region abandoned their colonies. When the glaciers melted during warming periods, the Adélie penguins were able to return to their rocky breeding grounds.
I’ve just visited the Antarctic peninsula on a short Climate Expedition with Ocean Geographic as one of the official photographers and expedition ambassador. Leaders in the fields of science, art, education and economics alongside inquisitive teenagers and corporate executives, participated in the expedition to Antarctica with the iconic oceanographer Dr Sylvia Earle. The principal expedition team for this most important climate summit was comprised of conservationists, celebrities and ocean luminaries.
The master plan of the Antarctic Climate Expedition was to bring about public and government awareness of the importance and the splendour of the Antarctic and to address the warming climate and loss of ice in the southern polar region as a direct threat to the future of human life on this planet.
Climate change may shrink Adélie penguin range by end of century. Their colonies are extremely fragile and sensible to climate change. The Adélie penguins feeds on krill, that is more abundant along the ice pack where algae grows. From the 1982 to the 2017 their population diminished from 100000 to 30000 individuals due to the recession of the ice in the Peninsula and consequent scarcity of food, necessary for their reproductive activities.
We witnessed a solemn climate crisis impact. I was dismayed to find the change to be the most rampant, most noticeable than just a few years ago. The illustrative of the larger problem of habitat damage and the pervasive human impact now is reaching the remotest wilderness regions.
We observed the immense scale of change from unusually wet snowfall to penguin chicks born too late to survive, rapidly retreating glaciers, to the expanse of green snow algae and frequent rainfall. Nevertheless, the Antarctic is still magically beautiful, an astonishing white and blue landscape occupied by penguins that are found nowhere else on this planet.
The loss of habitat is modifying the lifestyles of and the movements of the penguin’s colonies and the seabirds whom since ever are coexisting in these coastal regions.
Climate has influenced the distribution patterns of Adélie penguins across Antarctica for millions of years. The geologic record tells us that as glaciers expanded and covered Adélie breeding habitats with ice, penguins in the region abandoned their colonies. When the glaciers melted during warming periods, the Adélie penguins were able to return to their rocky breeding grounds.
The Gentoo Penguin is distinguishable by the bright red beak and has the largest distribution of any penguin. They feed on cod, crustaceans and squid and often hunt in packs. The Gentoo Penguin is classed as near-threatened on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species; populations in Antarctica are increasing at most sites, but are declining rapidly on sub-Arctic islands.
The climate crisis is limiting the availability of krill —small crustaceans that are vital in the marine food chain— during summer in some areas of the Antarctica. This involves a decrease in the food abundance for female Antarctic fur seals in summer and a decrease in their reproductive success. Moreover, the predation of pups by the leopard seal has also increased due to a lower abundance of penguins, the main prey of this voracious Antarctic predator. However, the impact of the climate crisis on the Antarctic fur seal in winter has been ignored to date, when the cold, wind and ice make it harder to study the Antarctic ecosystems.
Antarctic ice is gradually melting due to the rising temperatures and the ice recession is at the rate of 10 meters per year. Antarctic seabirds and sea mammals like true seals and fur seals are slowly by consistently loosing their habitat.
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