UPPERWEATHER.COM _{-Meteorological Musings}

Now on to King Penguins. I just read an interesting article about how Global Warming will kill off these cute creatures if the sea surface temperature were to rise only 0.26 degrees Celcius. Holy Crap!!! Why are they not dead already? How much does the water temperture change in a day, or across an ocean front? I realize they are talking about averages, but surely an animal that has already made it through ice ages and warm spells can endure more than 0.26 degree increase.

Looking at the graph here, and comparing it to the article:

"During the summer, the penguins forage at a distance between 300 and 600 km from their colony, the distance being directly correlated with the warming of the Ocean: the warmer the surface water, the fewer fish prey close to Crozet and the further the penguins must go. In winter, when marine resources are more difficult to come by, the penguins must go some 2000 km from the colony, near the ice seas off of Antarctica." They are swimming across 15-20 degrees right there. Surely the good folks at science daily misquoted a very ethical scientist purely on accident.