Antarctic Peninsula summer melt season prolonged by global warming

The melt season on the Antarctic Peninsula has been getting much longer over the last 60 years, at some locations doubling in length according to the research lead by Dr Nick Barrand of the British Antarctic Survey.

Increased melting season increases the melting stress of ice shelves which hold back significant glacier discharge and sea level rise.

The Antarctic Peninsula is a mountainous region that extends north from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet towards South America. The area is warming much faster than the rest of Antarctica at around 3 times the global average, although the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) also appears to be rapidly warming according to measurements at Byrd polar station. Temperatures have risen by up to 3 oC since the 1950s. The warming has been linked to a strengthening of local westerly winds, causing warmer air from the sea to be pushed up and over the peninsula.

• Antarctic Peninsula summer melt season extending
  
• Impact of warming on penguins and marine ecosystem
  
• Invasion of the King Crabs
  

Related: Real Climate - Antarctic Peninsula warming: natural variability or "global warming"?

Penguin numbers suffering with krill decline due to Global Warming

A new study of declining penguin populations shows a strong correlation between penguin numbers and krill availability. Krill availability is affected by reduced sea ice conditions due to global warming and climate change.

"For penguins and other species, krill is the linchpin in the food web. Regardless of their environmental preferences, we see a connection between climate change and penguin populations through the loss of habitat for their main food source," said Dr. Wayne Trivelpiece, lead author and seabird researcher of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Antarctic Ecosystem Research Division. "As warming continues, the loss of krill will have a profound effect throughout the Antarctic ecosystem."

Related: On the brink: Penguins face an uncertain climate future (Oct 2010)

On the brink: Penguins face an uncertain climate future

Early this year the African Penguin was redlisted by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature as in danger of extinction. In response to a 2006 petition by the Centre for Biological Diversity the US Interior Department has listed the African penguin, the only species of penguin breeding on the African continent, for protection under the US Endangered Species Act.



The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) upgraded the status of the Afican Penguin in 2010 to endangered citing "recent data has revealed that it is undergoing a very rapid population decline, probably as a result of commercial fisheries and shifts in prey populations. This trend currently shows no sign of reversing, and immediate conservation action is required to prevent further declines."

Related: Penguin numbers suffering with krill decline due to Global Warming (April 2011)