This story originally appeared in The Guardian and is part of the Climate Desk collaboration.
Satellite images have revealed 11 previously unknown imperial penguin colonies in Antarctica, increasing the number of known colonies of the imperial birds by 20 percent.
The discoveries were made by distinguishing the distinctive reddish-brown guano patches that leave the birds on the ice. The findings were made possible by higher-resolution images of a new satellite, because previous scans could not pick up smaller colonies.
Two of the colonies were a particular surprise. They were found farthest from the coast, and lived on sea ice anchored to shallow icebergs, a location never seen before.
The new colonies are thought to each number a few hundred penguins, which is smaller than average, so the discoveries increase the total population of emperor penguins by a smaller proportion of about 5 to 10 percent.
Imperial penguins are the only penguins that feed on six, instead of land, making them particularly vulnerable to the climate crisis. All new colonies are in areas at risk, and researchers say this will be the “canaries in the coal mine” because global warming is increasingly affecting Antarctica.
“The [new colonies] are an exciting discovery, “said Peter Fretwell, of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), which is leading the study.” Although this is good news, the colonies are small and only take the total population up to just over half. million penguins. “
Philip Trathan, also at BAS, said: “The new breeding grounds are all in locations where recent model projections suggest that emperor penguins will decline. So these birds are probably the canaries in coal – we need to take a good look at these sites, because climate change will affect this region. “
Fretwell said one of the colonies was 180 kilometers (112 miles) from the Antarctic continent: “Many of the penguin scientists we spoke to were unbelievable, because you would normally expect that they will be at the coast. ” Imperial penguins need stable ice, usually attached to land, nine months of the year to breed successfully.
Only a decade ago, only 30 colonies were known because they are normally at remote and inaccessible locations, where temperatures can drop as low as -50 Celsius (-58 Fahrenheit) in winter. But then Landsat started using satellite imagery. These have a resolution of 30 meters, which is enough to spot the larger colonies.
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