The mass death of emperor penguin cubs in four colonies was due to record low sea ice this year. This was the result of record high temperatures all over the planet. If the situation is not corrected, by 2100 the number of all species will be too low to sustain the population’s viability, leading to inevitable extinction.

what is known

We have never seen emperor penguins breed on such a large scale in one season. The loss of sea ice in this region during the Antarctic summer has made the displaced pups very unlikely to survive.
— says lead author of the study, geoinformatician Peter Fretwell of the British Antarctic Survey

Emperor penguins are the tallest and heaviest penguins alive today. They need stable sea ice frozen all the way to the shore to survive and reproduce. They mate and lay eggs during the Antarctic winter between May and June, and after an incubation period of 65 days, the chicks appear. The chicks remain thinly covered until November, when they begin to molt and produce waterproof feathers. By this time they are quite dependent on their parents and Needs a certain amount of ice to survive.

Researchers track emperor penguins from space using their excrement, which leaves spots on the icy landscape. Over the past 14 years, satellite imagery has revealed five relatively small colonies that return to the same locations each year to breed in the Bellingshausen Sea region of West Antarctica.

In a study published Aug. 24 in the journal Communications Earth and Environment, scientists analyzed satellite images of the area and found that four out of five colonies were likely. We lost all their chicks this year due to shrinking sea ice.

The past two years have witnessed the lowest levels of sea ice since satellite monitoring began 45 years ago. According to the study, researchers recorded extreme losses in the central and eastern parts of the Bellingshausen Sea, where sea ice melted completely in November 2022. Another record low was recorded in June, where sea ice in Antarctica should increase.

This is the first time that regional sea ice loss has led to the mass death of chicks of this penguin species. The scientists involved in the study warn that if this trend continues, it could have “serious consequences” for these animals, which are currently on the endangered species list.

Reasons

While sea ice levels in Antarctica are known to fluctuate due to atmospheric and oceanic changes like this year’s El Niño, human-induced climate change may be responsible for the dramatic losses in recent years.

The reduction of sea ice and the warming of the Southern Ocean near the surface strongly suggest that human-induced global warming is exacerbating these extremes.
Caroline Holmes of the British Antarctic Survey said in a statement.

Emperor penguins respond to local sea ice losses by moving to more stable breeding grounds the following year, according to the study. But this strategy will no longer be sustainable if other large areas of frozen habitats thaw in the coming years.