Adelie Penguins living at a polynya near the coast of Antarctica
Click on image for full size
GSFC/NASA
A Perfect Place for Penguins!
News story originally written on October 10, 2003
Scientists have recently discovered that thousands of Adelie Penguins thrive in patches of the chilly Southern Ocean near Antarctica's coastline. In these special areas of the ocean, called polynyas, penguins don't need to travel far to find food.
Much of the shallow ocean near Antarctica is covered with ice, but polynyas are not. That's what makes them special. Without a layer of ice covering it, the ocean water is hit with sunlight and tiny floating algae called phytoplankton grow and multiply very quickly. Phytoplankton is the beginning of the ocean food chain, so when it thrives, the animals that eat it do too, as do the animals that eat them!
A tiny, shrimp-like animal called krill eats the phytoplankton. Since there is so much phytoplankton in a polynya, the little krill munch away and reproduce rapidly, becoming very abundant. Krill is the main food for Adelie Penguins as well as other animals such as seals and whales. So, when the krill is abundant, so are the penguins!
Researchers say that they didn't know how much the penguins depended on polynyas before their study. How could thousands of penguins have been hidden from scientists in these ocean oases for so long? The polynyas are impossible to see from ships because they are surrounded by ice. So, the scientists had to use two satellites to take a look at them.
The satellites provided weekly measurements of the amount of chlorophyll in the polynyas. Chlorophyll is the pigment in plants that makes them green. It allows them to harness the Sun's energy through photosynthesis to make their own food. If the satellites recorded more chlorophyll in the polynyas, then that meant the phytoplankton were thriving. Where there is phytoplankton there is krill and were there is krill there is penguins!
Shop Windows to the Universe Science Store!
Enjoy your love of minerals and fossils through jewelry! We have beautiful Nature's Own
jewelry in our
online store, including earrings, necklaces, and pendants!
You might also be interested in:
This special issue of The Earth Scientist, which focuses on Earth System science, was sponsored by The Pennsylvania State University TESSE Team. The issue features the work of middle and high school teachers, and graduate and undergraduate students who have participated in the TESSE program from 2006 - 2009.
...more
Scientists have recently discovered that thousands of Adelie Penguins thrive in patches of the chilly Southern Ocean near Antarctica's coastline. In these special areas of the ocean, called polynyas,
...more
Mount St. Helens, a volcano in Washington on the west coast of the United States, has been quiet for 18 years but now it is quiet no more! It has been puffing steam and ash as scientists look for clues
...more
Today, our climate is changing very rapidly. To better understand how speedy climate change may affect plants and animals in the future, scientists are looking at the past. The scientists are looking
...more
A large meteor exploded in the sky near Chicago shortly after midnight on the morning of March 28, 2003. People in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio saw the meteor break apart in Earth's atmosphere.
...more
Take a look at this picture! The light blue parts are coral reefs just under the surface of the Red Sea. The crew of the International Space Station (ISS) took the picture on May 20, 2003 as they looked
...more
There will be an eclipse of the Moon on Thursday night, May 15, 2003. It will be the first eclipse in 2003. This eclipse is a total eclipse of the Moon, which means the Moon will pass through the darkest
...more
Figuring out what tomorrow's weather will be can be a tough job. But now scientists have made a new tool that will make it easier. It looks at the weather from above! The tool is orbiting Earth aboard
...more
