Everyone who has at least visited Aviarry with penguins in a zoo or Oceanarium knew the truth about these birds – they smell a lot. More precisely, their feces. Popsci.com information portal speakWhy is it good and how can penguin feces cans in Antarctica from global warming.
Antarctic ecosystems are seriously threatened by global warming-under the threat of some penguins simply unable to infer their children. The lower the temperature, the less in the ocean, the more important for birds, sea seals, whales and, of course, penguins. Later is an important form for the ecosystem and parallel, one of the largest ammonia sources in the region.
Ammonia is an atmosphere that can increase the formation of clouds due to reactions to sulfur gases. And the clouds, in turn, increase the production of Aerosol – the particles provide a pair of water to condense, create clouds. Moreover, this is related to the planet in general, not only for Antarctica.
Because the concentration of Aerosol particles is higher to create better clouds that reflect sunlight, the source of these particles in the area is also very important. The atmosphere on Antarctica is actually not polluted, because it is different from human impurities. For this reason, the formation of new particles occurs by gas from natural sources is an important source of Aerosol particles.
Because of this, the clouds in the Antarctic sky can play the role of isolation of layers in the atmosphere reducing the surface temperature and thus, affecting the mass of ice in the ocean. However, the relationship between penguins, ammonia and climate in Antarctica has been studied very little.
The authors of the scientific work were published in Nature Communications Earth & Environment Magazine, which conducted the following experiment. They measured the concentration of ammonia in the air near the Antarctica Station of Marambio between January 10 to March 20, 2023. When the wind blows from the major colony of Adeli penguins, the ammonia content in the air increased by 1,000 times compared to the natural meaning of the region. In addition, ammonia has improved the concentration of particles in clouds up to 30 times.
Around the end of February, penguins leave their old territory. Ammonia concentration remains 100 times higher than normal, because the stool of the remaining penguin in the colony continues to exude ammonia. Therefore, ammonia emissions with penguins may even include most coastal areas in Antarctica.
Later, scientists, to confirm the effects of ammonia in the clouds, have conducted a number of atmospheric measurements. Again, whenever the wind blows from the side of the old penguin colonial, the number and size of the Aerosol particles is much higher. And about three hours after the wind direction changes, the team recorded the appearance of the fog – perhaps it was the result of an increase in the concentration of Aerosol particles.