Scientists were pleasantly surprised when satellite footage from Antarctica showed the droppings of Emperor penguins that lead them to colonies living on the continent unbeknownst to man.
The team used images from the European Commission’s Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite mission to locate the birds, reports the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). They found 11 new colonies, three of which were previously identified but never confirmed. The global census is now up to 61 confirmed colonies of the species around the continent.
Exciting news today announcing 11 new emperor #penguin colonies have been found, revealing there are nearly 20% more emperor penguin colonies in #Antarctica than previously thought. However their sea ice breeding grounds are vulnerable to #climatechange: https://t.co/5J6Kz4y9Zo pic.twitter.com/5Pnzvr9pGb
— Antarctic Survey (@BAS_News) August 5, 2020
These new sightings increased the number of colonies on Antarctica by 20%. However, experts are concerned about potential habitat loss due to climate change.
‘Whilst it’s good news that we’ve found these new colonies, the breeding sites are all in locations where recent model projections suggest emperors will decline,’ said conservation biologist Phil Trathan from the BAS.
A study on the Paris Agreement suggests that 80% of colonies will decrease by more than 90% by the end of the century if sea ice around Antarctica decreases by half.
Now, scientists will have to direct satellites with very high, 30cm-resolution cameras over the colonies to be able to count the penguins, reports The Guardian.
‘It is dark at the moment in Antarctica, so we can’t count them yet,’ said Peter Fretwell from the BAS. ‘The sun will come up either later this month or next month in most of these locations, and then we will start.’
Image credit: Twitter/BAS
