Enormous icebergs threaten penguins
Massive icebergs and an unprecedented amount of sea ice have nearly cut off one of Antarctica’s largest populations of Adelie penguins, jeopardising attempts by the birds to breed.
Every year at this time, the penguins flock to Ross Island, where they breed and lay their eggs in shallow nests lined with pebbles.
But satellite images released by Nasa show the coast around Cape Crozier, normally home to about 130,000 breeding pairs of the penguins, is choked with ice and icebergs.
The largest of the bergs, dubbed B-15A, covers 2,100 square miles - roughly the size of Cyprus.
The amount of sea ice has increased - and in some cases, doubled - the distance between the breeding grounds and the open water, where penguins feast on krill, fish and squid.
That means the birds must now walk rather than swim to their colonies, which can take them five times as long.
The colony is the sixth-largest in the world, and has been studied since 1959.
A colony of 1,200 Emperor penguins at Cape Crozier also failed to raise chicks this year, according to researchers working on a National Science Foundation-funded study.
Among the culprits are B-15A and a smaller iceberg, C-16. The bergs may eventually cut off sea access to McMurdo Station, the main US facility in Antarctica, said Ian Joughin, a Nasa researcher.
