Sometimes Penguins Have Somewhere Important to Go, 11 December Options

[Dena_Rosenberger]

Sometimes Penguins Have Somewhere Important to Go
11 December, 2005

For those interested in things Antarctic, check out the weekly Antarctic newspaper at http://AntarcticSun.usap.gov

Hello from the Ice!
For additional Antarctic pics, check out the Gallery.

Where’s Rosenberger?
Pony Lake, Ross Island, Antarctica

Today we continued our work in the lab with analysis of Pony Lake water.

Earlier in the week, I went to a Science Lecture by the foremost researcher on Adelie penguins, David Ainley, who is also working at Pony Lake. In his talk, he linked penguin migration and population changes with ice coverage. Worldwide warming is apparently being felt by penguins, including Adelies and Emperors, in the northernmost part of Antarctica near the Antarctic Peninsula where ice shelves have been melting.



At Pony Lake, I was able to shoot some video of the Adelie penguins and send a QuickTime video clip to the wonderfully helpful people at ARCUS (Arctic Research Consortium of the United States), my website host. Check out this link to view some nesting Adelies, and one little penguin that looks like it has somewhere important to go:

http://archive.arcus.org/TREC/downloads/NestingPenguins.mov

Did you know?
The Antarctic Peninsula (which looks like the “tail” of Antarctica) has hundreds of offshore islands, making it one of Antarctica’s richest breeding grounds for seabirds, seals, and penguins. During the 19th century, it was explored extensively, primarily by sealers from Britain and the U.S. (Source: Lonely Planet – Antarctica)

Current Conditions at McMurdo Station
Clear skies above with ground fog forming on the sea ice

Right now:
Winds from the northeast at 5-15 knots
Pressure: 29.460 inHg
Temperature: 28 oF/-2 oC with wind chill 12 F/ -11 C
Sunset: February 20 at 1:38 am