iceberg blamed for penguins鈥 demise
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Some 150,000 penguins died after a massive iceberg grounded near their colony in Antarctica, forcing them to make a lengthy trek to find food, scientists say in a newly-published study.
The B09B iceberg, measuring some 100 square kilometers, grounded in Commonwealth Bay in East Antarctica in December 2010, the researchers from Australia and New Zealand wrote in the Antarctic Science journal.
The Adelie penguin population at the bay鈥檚 Cape Denison was measured to be about 160,000 in February 2011 but by December 2013 it had plunged to an estimated 10,000, they said.
The iceberg鈥檚 grounding meant the penguins had to walk more than 60 kilometers to find food, impeding their breeding attempts, said the researchers from the University of New South Wales鈥 (UNSW) Climate Change Research Centre and New Zealand鈥檚 West Coast Penguin Trust.
鈥淭he Cape Denison population could be extirpated within 20 years unless B09B relocates or the now perennial fast ice within the bay breaks out,鈥 they wrote in the research published this month.
Fast ice is sea ice which forms and stays fast along the coast.
During their census in December 2013, the researchers said 鈥渉undreds of abandoned eggs were noted, and the ground was littered with the freeze-dried carcasses of previous season鈥檚 chicks.鈥
鈥淚t鈥檚 eerily silent now,鈥 UNSW鈥檚 Chris Turney, who led the 2013 expedition, told the Sydney Morning Herald Friday.
鈥淭he ones that we saw at Cape Denison were incredibly docile, lethargic, almost unaware of your existence.
鈥淭he ones that are surviving are clearly struggling. They can barely survive themselves, let alone hatch the next generation. We saw lots of dead birds on the ground... it鈥檚 just heartbreaking to see.鈥
In contrast, penguins living on the eastern fringe of the bay just eight kilometers from the fast ice edge were thriving, the scientists said. The researchers said the study had 鈥渋mportant implications鈥 for the wider East Antarctic if the current trend of increasing sea ice continued.
Sea ice around Antarctica is increasing, in contrast to the Arctic where global warming is causing ice to melt and glaciers to shrink. Scientists believe the growth in Antarctic sea ice is largely driven by changes in wind and local conditions.
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