Ukrainian Polar Scientists Register Record-Early Return Of Penguins To Galindez Island

(MENAFN- UkrinForm) According to Ukrinform, the National Antarctic Scientific Center said this in a Facebook post.

"Only recently, we reported that these birds left Galindez Island, where the station is located, unusually late. In previous years, they would typically leave around May, but this year they stayed until the second half of July (and, as a reminder, it is winter in Antarctica)," the biologists said.

Now, scientists at the Vernadsky Research Base are recording the record-early return of the gentoo penguins. Previously, they would arrive en masse on the island roughly from mid-September to mid-October – that is, in spring – but this year the polar scientists spotted thousands of penguins in the second half of August.

"What is interesting is that in June and July, we mostly observed them in one location – Penguin Point. It is located on the opposite side of the island from the station and has a convenient, gently sloping shore for access to the water. Now, after their return, the birds have already spread along the shoreline all the way to the station building. We can see them from the windows," said Oleh Horiaiinov, a biologist with the 31st Ukrainian Antarctic Expedition.

In other words, the penguins are already spreading to the areas where they usually nest. Ukrainian researchers have so far counted at least 3,500 penguins on the island, and their numbers are increasing.

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The unusually early return is most likely linked to changes in sea-ice conditions around the island and rising ocean temperatures. At the end of July, when the penguins disappeared, ice formed around Galindez Island, and the water temperature dropped to -1.9°C, below the freezing point. Later, however, ocean temperatures began to rise and the ice gradually retreated. As a result, biologists began recording the mass return of the penguins.

Therefore, it is quite possible that in the coming years, climate change and warming will result in gentoo penguins no longer leaving Galindez Island at all. They could become not only the most numerous but also the most permanent neighbors of the Ukrainian polar scientists, the National Antarctic Scientific Center said.

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