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Thread: A trip to antarctica

  1. #11
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    Default Re: A trip to antarctica

    I FOUND THIS INFORMATION ON GOOGLE..........................


    Previously Unknown "Supercolony" of Adelie Penguins Discovered in Antarctica

    Credit: Thomas Sayre McChord, Hanumant Singh, Northeastern University, © Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

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    March 2, 2018For the past 40 years, the total number of Adélie Penguins, one of the most common on the Antarctic Peninsula, has been steadily declining—or so biologists have thought. A new study led by researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), however, is providing new insights on this species of penguin.

    In a paper released on March 2nd in the journal Scientific Reports, the scientists announced the discovery of a previously unknown "supercolony" of more than 1,500,000 Adélie Penguins in the Danger Islands, a chain of remote, rocky islands off of the Antarctic Peninsula’s northern tip.

    "Until recently, the Danger Islands weren’t known to be an important penguin habitat," says co-PI Heather Lynch, Associate Professor of Ecology & Evolution at Stony Brook University. These supercolonies have gone undetected for decades, she notes, partly because of the remoteness of the islands themselves, and partly the treacherous waters that surround them. Even in the austral summer, the nearby ocean is filled with thick sea ice, making it extremely difficult to access.

    Yet in 2014, Lynch and colleague Mathew Schwaller from NASA discovered telltale guano stains in existing NASA satellite imagery of the islands, hinting at a mysteriously large number of penguins. To find out for sure, Lynch teamed with Stephanie Jenouvrier, a seabird ecologist at WHOI, Mike Polito at LSU and Tom Hart at Oxford University to arrange an expedition to the islands with the goal of counting the birds firsthand.

    When the group arrived in December 2015, they found hundreds of thousands of birds nesting in the rocky soil, and immediately started to tally up their numbers by hand. The team also used a modified commercial quadcopter drone to take images of the entire island from above.

    "The drone lets you fly in a grid over the island, taking pictures once per second. You can then stitch them together into a huge collage that shows the entire landmass in 2D and 3D," says co-PI Hanumant Singh, Professor of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at Northeastern University, who developed the drone’s imaging and navigation system. Once those massive images are available, he says, his team can use neural network software to analyze them, pixel by pixel, searching for penguin nests autonomously.

    The accuracy that the drone enabled was key, says Michael Polito, coauthor from Louisiana State University and a guest investigator at WHOI. The number of penguins in the Danger Islands could provide insight not just on penguin population dynamics, but also on the effects of changing temperature and sea ice on the region’s ecology.

    "Not only do the Danger Islands hold the largest population of Adélie penguins on the Antarctic Peninsula, they also appear to have not suffered the population declines found along the western side of Antarctic Peninsula that are associated with recent climate change," says Polito.

    Being able to get an accurate count of the birds in this supercolony offers a valuable benchmark for future change, as well, notes Jenouvrier. "The population of Adélies on the east side of the Antarctic Peninsula is different from what we see on the west side, for example. We want to understand why. Is it linked to the extended sea ice condition over there? Food availability? That’s something we don’t know," she says.
    Last edited by Captain Kong; 3rd March 2018 at 01:41 PM.

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  3. #12
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    Default Re: A trip to antarctica

    According to the above Scientists there is Climate Change,
    this was on the news yesterday..............
    In the News yesterday,,
    The BAS, British Antarctic Survey, ship, could not get across the Weddell Sea, the Ice was too thick and this after a six month Summer
    The SEA Ice was Five metres or 16 Feet thick, she only made 5 miles in 24 hours steaming. They said they have to try again next season after the winter.
    and that folks is Global Warming.
    So who is telling porkies???

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    Default Re: A trip to antarctica

    Had a great pic of a penguin nest but it wouldn't load.....
    B

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    Default Re: A trip to antarctica

    It was probably mine, Brenda, too big to load,

    cheers
    Brian

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    Default Re: A trip to antarctica

    Captain Kong's tale certainly brought back many memories of my trips to BA especially the mention of La Boca and Viente Cinco De Mayo enough to even dig through the old photo box, spent many trips with Blue Star on the South America Run and suffered the worst case of Sea Sickness ever going through the Bay of Biscay, (first trip Junior Eng) suppose it was good grounding for the trips in the very early 70's from Great Yarmouth to the top end of the North Sea for pipe laying and burying during the 39 /42 hours stuck on the supply boats used to transport the guys in those days.
    R813887.

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    Default Re: A trip to antarctica

    This item came through on my computer this morning with a red warning that it was a scam.......
    Brenda

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