Summit County Citizens Voice

Land of ice is melting …

Dawn illuminates the mountains of the Antarctic Peninsula.

SUMMIT COUNTY — As I searched through my Antarctica photo archives to find a picture of an orca for this story, I realized how many pictures I took during a two-week voyage around the Antarctic Peninsula and the Weddell Sea. It’s an amazing and fascinating place, and unfortunately, the Antarctic Peninsula is warming five times faster than most other areas as the Earth’s climate changes, with almost unimaginable consequences for ecosystems. One one stop, our guides expected to find a colony of nesting gentoo penguins, but instead, we found a mostly empty beach, as vanishing sea ice shifts their nesting and breeding season from year to year.

That may not seem like a big deal, but according to conservation biologists, one of the biggest ecological threats is a de-synching of predators and prey. If the penguins nest earlier and hatch their chicks earlier, there’s a chance that the food they rely on won’t be available when it’s needed most. It isn’t just an issue in Antarctica. Biologists say the same thing could happen with many birds, and other species here in Colorado.

Chinstrap penguins on Deception Island.

The M/V Professor Molchanov anchored in the collapsed underwater caldera of Deception Island, with Neptune's Bellows are visible on the left.

The abandoned buildings of a historic whaling station on Deception Island frame the M/V Professor Molchanov.

Muddy runoff from a melting glacier spills into the sea.

Hiking on Deception Island.

Twin fur seals on Aitcho Island, in the South Shetlands chain.

Icy Antarctic peak seen from Dundee Island.

Berg.

Filed under: biodiversity, climate and weather, Environment, global warming, Morning photo, photography, Travel Tagged: | Aitcho Island, Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctica, Deception Island, Dundee Island, photography, Professor Molchanov, Travel