Latest news with #MatthewBoyer
IOL News
2 days ago
- Health
- IOL News
Cloudy with a chance of penguin poo
Penguins may be nature's surprise climate helpers, thanks to their cloud-boosting droppings. Antarctica's icy wilderness is warming rapidly under the weight of human-driven climate change, yet a new study points to an unlikely ally in the fight to keep the continent cool: penguin poo. Published in Communications Earth & Environment, the research shows that ammonia wafting off penguin guano seeds extra cloud cover above coastal Antarctica, likely blocking sunlight and nudging temperatures down. Lead author Matthew Boyer, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Helsinki, said that lab studies had long shown gaseous ammonia can help form clouds. But "to actually quantify this process and to see its influence in Antarctica hasn't been done," he said. Antarctica is an ideal natural laboratory. With virtually no human pollution and scant vegetation - both alternative sources of cloud-forming gases - penguin colonies dominate as ammonia emitters. The birds' future, however, is under threat. Shrinking sea ice disrupts their nesting, feeding and predator-avoidance routines - making it all the more urgent to understand their broader ecological role. Along with other seabirds such as Imperial Shags, penguins expel large amounts of ammonia through droppings, an acrid cocktail of feces and urine released via their multi-purpose cloacas. When that ammonia mixes with sulfur-bearing gases from phytoplankton - the microscopic algae that bloom in the surrounding ocean - it boosts the formation of tiny aerosol particles that grow into clouds. To capture the effect in the real world, Boyer and teammates set up instruments at Argentina's Marambio Base on Seymour Island, off the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. Over three summer months - when penguin colonies are bustling and phytoplankton photosynthesis peaks - they monitored wind direction, ammonia levels and newly minted aerosols. When the breeze blew from a 60 000-strong Adelie penguin colony eight kilometers (five miles) away, atmospheric ammonia spiked to 13.5 parts per billion - about a thousand times the background level. For over a month after the birds had departed on their annual migration, concentrations stayed roughly 100 times higher, with the guano-soaked ground acting as a slow-release fertiliser. Particle counters told the same story: cloud-seeding aerosols surged whenever air masses arrived from the colony, at times thick enough to generate a dense fog. Chemical fingerprints in the particles pointed back to penguin-derived ammonia. Penguin-plankton partnership Boyer calls it a "synergistic process" between penguins and phytoplankton that supercharges aerosol production in the region. "We provide evidence that declining penguin populations could cause a positive climate-warming feedback in the summertime Antarctic atmosphere," the authors write - though Boyer emphasised that this remains a hypothesis, not a confirmed outcome. Globally, clouds have a net cooling effect by reflecting solar radiation back into space. Based on Arctic modeling of seabird emissions, the team believes a similar mechanism is likely at play in Antarctica. But the impact also depends on what's beneath the clouds. Ice sheets and glaciers also reflect much of the sun's energy, so extra cloud cover over these bright surfaces could trap infrared heat instead - meaning the overall effect hinges on where the clouds form and drift. Still, the findings highlight the profound interconnections between life and the atmosphere - from the Great Oxygenation Event driven by photosynthesising microbes billions of years ago to penguins influencing cloud cover today. "This is just another example of this deep connection between the ecosystem and atmospheric processes, and why we should care about biodiversity and conservation," Boyer said.
National Observer
3 days ago
- Science
- National Observer
The weird way that penguin poop might be cooling Antarctica
This story was originally published by Grist and appears here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration In December 2022, Matthew Boyer hopped on an Argentine military plane to one of the more remote habitations on Earth: Marambio Station at the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, where the icy continent stretches toward South America. Months before that, Boyer had to ship expensive, delicate instruments that might get busted by the time he landed. 'When you arrive, you have boxes that have been sometimes sitting outside in Antarctica for a month or two in a cold warehouse,' said Boyer, a Ph.D. student in atmospheric science at the University of Helsinki. 'And we're talking about sensitive instrumentation.' But the effort paid off, because Boyer and his colleagues found something peculiar about penguin guano. In a paper published on Thursday in the journal Communications Earth and Environment, they describe how ammonia wafting off the droppings of 60,000 birds contributed to the formation of clouds that might be insulating Antarctica, helping cool down an otherwise rapidly warming continent. Some penguin populations, however, are under serious threat because of climate change. Losing them and their guano could mean fewer clouds and more heating in an already fragile ecosystem, one so full of ice that it will significantly raise sea levels worldwide as it melts. A better understanding of this dynamic could help scientists hone their models of how Antarctica will transform as the world warms. They can now investigate, for instance, if some penguin species produce more ammonia and, therefore, more of a cooling effect. 'That's the impact of this paper,' said Tamara Russell, a marine ornithologist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, who studies penguins but wasn't involved in the research. 'That will inform the models better, because we know that some species are decreasing, some are increasing, and that's going to change a lot down there in many different ways.' With their expensive instruments, Boyer and his research team measured atmospheric ammonia between January and March 2023, summertime in the southern hemisphere. They found that when the wind was blowing from an Adelie penguin colony 5 miles away from the detectors, concentrations of the gas shot up to 1,000 times higher than the baseline. Even when the penguins had moved out of the colony after breeding, ammonia concentrations remained elevated for at least a month, as the guano continued emitting the gas. That atmospheric ammonia could have been helping cool the area. The researchers further demonstrated that the ammonia kicks off an atmospheric chain reaction. Out at sea, tiny plantlike organisms known as phytoplankton release the gas dimethyl sulfide, which transforms into sulphuric acid in the atmosphere. Because ammonia is a base, it reacts readily with this acid. Ammonia wafting off the droppings of 60,000 birds contributed to the formation of clouds that might be insulating Antarctica, helping cool down an otherwise rapidly warming continent. This coupling results in the rapid formation of aerosol particles. Clouds form when water vapor gloms onto any number of different aerosols, like soot and pollen, floating around in the atmosphere. In populated places, these particles are more abundant, because industries and vehicles emit so many of them as pollutants. Trees and other vegetation spew aerosols, too. But because Antarctica lacks trees and doesn't have much vegetation at all, the aerosols from penguin guano and phytoplankton can make quite an impact. In February 2023, Boyer and the other researchers measured a particularly strong burst of particles associated with guano, sampled a resulting fog a few hours later, and found particles created by the interaction of ammonia from the guano and sulphuric acid from the plankton. 'There is a deep connection between these ecosystem processes, between penguins and phytoplankton at the ocean surface,' Boyer said. 'Their gas is all interacting to form these particles and clouds.' But here's where the climate impacts get a bit trickier. Scientists know that in general, clouds cool Earth's climate by reflecting some of the sun's energy back into space. Although Boyer and his team hypothesize that clouds enhanced with penguin ammonia are probably helping cool this part of Antarctica, they note that they didn't quantify that climate effect, which would require further research. That's a critical bit of information because of the potential for the warming climate to create a feedback loop. As oceans heat up, penguins are losing access to some of their prey, and colonies are shrinking or disappearing as a result. Fewer penguins producing guano means less ammonia and fewer clouds, which means more warming and more disruptions to the animals, and on and on in a self-reinforcing cycle. 'If this paper is correct — and it really seems to be a nice piece of work to me — [there's going to be] a feedback effect, where it's going to accelerate the changes that are already pushing change in the penguins,' said Peter Roopnarine, curator of geology at the California Academy of Sciences. Scientists might now look elsewhere, Roopnarine adds, to find other bird colonies that could also be providing cloud cover. Protecting those species from pollution and hunting would be a natural way to engineer Earth systems to offset some planetary warming. 'We think it's for the sake of the birds,' Roopnarine said. 'Well, obviously it goes well beyond that.'
Time of India
28-05-2025
- Science
- Time of India
Penguins may help in counteracting climate change! Researchers reveal how
Imagine living in one of the farthest and remotest corners of the whole world, and becoming kind of instrumental in reviving the same! Penguins are proving to have that sort of superpower! What's happening? Antarctica is warming quickly due to human-caused climate change. However, where there's a problem, there must be a will to solve it as well. A new study suggests that penguin droppings, or guano, could help keep the continent cooler. The study, published in Communications Earth & Environment , shows that ammonia released from penguin guano helps form extra clouds above coastal Antarctica. These clouds block sunlight and may lower temperatures. Can penguin poop save the world? According to the paper, penguins are a key species in Antarctica, are "major emitters" of ammonia. When the ammonia reacts with gases that contain sulfur emitted from phytoplankton in the ocean, it increases the creation of aerosols, which give water vapor a surface to condense upon and lead to cloud formation. As per Matthew Boyer, a researcher at the University of Helsinki's Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research and lead author of the paper, "They have a synergistic role for the formation of particles in the atmosphere." by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Click Here - This Might Save You From Losing Money Expertinspector Click Here Undo According to the paper, the clouds can then act as an insulation in the atmosphere, helping to reduce surface temperatures, which in turn prevents the sea ice from melting. Insight into the study: Boyer noted that past lab studies indicated ammonia can aid in cloud formation. However, measuring this in Antarctica had not been done before. Antarctica serves as a unique natural laboratory. With very little human pollution and few plants to produce cloud-forming gases, penguin colonies serve as the main source of ammonia. However, penguins face threats due to shrinking sea ice, which disrupts their nesting, feeding, and routines to avoid predators. Understanding their ecological role is crucial. Along with other seabirds like Imperial Shags, penguins release large amounts of ammonia through their droppings. When this ammonia mixes with sulfur gases from phytoplankton—tiny algae in the ocean—it helps create aerosol particles that form clouds. To study this, Boyer and his team set up instruments at Argentina's Marambio Base on Seymour Island, near the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. During those summer months, when penguin colonies thrive and phytoplankton bloom, they monitored wind, ammonia levels, and aerosols. When wind blew from a nearby colony of 60,000 Adélie penguins, ammonia levels rose to 13.5 parts per billion—about a thousand times higher than normal. Even a month after the penguins had migrated, ammonia concentrations remained about 100 times higher, thanks to the guano-soaked ground. As air moved from the penguin colony, particle counters showed an increase in cloud-forming aerosols, sometimes thick enough to create fog. Chemical analysis pointed to ammonia from the penguins. Boyer describes this as a "synergistic process" where penguins and phytoplankton work together to increase aerosol production in the area. He warns that declining penguin numbers could worsen climate warming in the Antarctic summer, although this idea is still a hypothesis and not proven. Clouds usually cool the Earth by reflecting sunlight, and the team believes a similar process occurs in Antarctica. However, the effect depends on what lies beneath the clouds. Ice and glaciers reflect a lot of sunlight, but clouds can also trap heat, so the overall impact depends on where clouds form. Yet another reminder: The findings highlight how interconnected Antarctic ecosystems are with Earth's climate systems. As ice melts and habitats shift due to global warming , it's not just wildlife like penguins that are at risk, but also the natural processes they support. These findings also show how closely life and the atmosphere are linked, from the ancient rise of oxygen due to microbes to penguins affecting current cloud cover. As per Boyer, "This highlights the deep connection between ecosystems and atmospheric processes, and why we should care about biodiversity and conservation." The Antarctic plays a vital role in stabilising global temperatures, acting as a heat buffer, a carbon sink, and the engine behind ocean currents, according to the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition. Unfortunately, it's also one of the fastest-warming regions on Earth. Linking fossil climate proxies to living bacteria helps climate prediction
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Penguin poop is creating more clouds. Here's how
There is no shortage of penguin poop in Antarctica. In fact, you can see it from space, if you know where to look. Researchers often use satellite observations to study Adélie penguin populations and changes in their diet. The most widespread penguin species, there are currently an estimated 10 million Adélie penguins, according to the International Fund for Animal Welfare. The penguins themselves are too small to see from above, but their excrement is not. Also known as guano, the old bird poop builds up on rocky and icy surfaces over time. It can be seen in shades of white, red, and pink. The color that is expelled depends on what these flightless birds eat. With a krill diet, for example, turns it out pinker. Whereas, a largely fishy diet turns their poop whiter. But, the color isn't the only magic associated with Adélie penguin poop. Researchers say that ammonia released from the guano could help to protect them from the increasingly dangerous effects of human-caused climate change. The sea ice Adélie penguins rely on to survive is dwindling, as it is increasingly threatened by climate change. However, ammonia released from their poop may be contributing to increased regional cloud formation that halts ice loss and protects their habitat. 'There are connections between things that happen on our natural planet that we just don't necessarily expect,' Matthew Boyer, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Helsinki, told The Washington Post. 'And this is one of them.' Boyer was the lead author of the related research, which was recently published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment. Ammonia, which is a naturally occurring chemical compound often used in disinfecting products, can ramp up cloud formation when it chemically interacts with gases that contain the smelly element sulphur. This reaction increases the creation of particles in the air that give water vapor — water in its gaseous form — a surface to condense upon: changing it into a liquid. That's how clouds are formed. Ammonia clouds have been found on Jupiter, and over Southeast Asia. The resulting clouds can serve as insulating layers in the atmosphere, as well as help to reduce surface temperatures and keep the surrounding sea ice from melting. Last year, the sea ice extent in the Southern Ocean around Antarctica was the second smallest on record. This March saw Antarctic sea ice plunge, as well. The sea ice, which is more reflective than water, plays a significant role in keeping polar regions cool. 'We can hypothesize that there will be a cooling effect from the clouds because, in general, that is the most prominent effect of clouds in the atmosphere,' Boyer explained. To reach their conclusions, Boyer and his colleagues measured the concentration of ammonia in the air at a site near Marambio Base in the winter of 2023. They were downwind of the colony of 60,000 Adélie penguins, and their poop. When the wind blew from that direction, they found the concentration of ammonia in the air increased to more than 1,000 times higher than the baseline level. Furthermore, it was still more than 100 times higher than the baseline after the penguins had migrated from the area by the end of February. To confirm that this was the direct result of the guano's ammonia, they took several additional atmospheric measurements on a single day, finding that the number and size of particles at the site sharply increased when the wind blew from the colony. Just three hours later, they observed a period of fog that they say was likely the result of the increased particles. Although the specific interaction between penguins and the Antarctic climate is currently poorly understood, Antarctic ecosystems are facing significant pressures because of human-driven climate change that is driving sea ice loss as global warming continues. Warmer waters may mean less of the phytoplankton that krill and fish eat, reducing the penguins' food supply. The researchers say that their conclusions emphasize the importance of protecting penguins, which play a vital role in balancing their ecosystems. Although these birds may only be just over two feet tall, their contribution may be massive. 'The oceans and the penguins are influencing the atmosphere and actually influencing the local climate in Antarctica,' said Boyer. 'The local changes in Antarctica will have an impact on global climate.'
The Independent
28-05-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Penguin poop is creating more clouds. Here's how
There is no shortage of penguin poop in Antarctica. In fact, you can see it from space, if you know where to look. Researchers often use satellite observations to study Adélie penguin populations and changes in their diet. The most widespread penguin species, there are currently an estimated 10 million Adélie penguins, according to the International Fund for Animal Welfare. The penguins themselves are too small to see from above, but their excrement is not. Also known as guano, the old bird poop builds up on rocky and icy surfaces over time. It can be seen in shades of white, red, and pink. The color that is expelled depends on what these flightless birds eat. With a krill diet, for example, turns it out pinker. Whereas, a largely fishy diet turns their poop whiter. But, the color isn't the only magic associated with Adélie penguin poop. Researchers say that ammonia released from the guano could help to protect them from the increasingly dangerous effects of human-caused climate change. The sea ice Adélie penguins rely on to survive is dwindling, as it is increasingly threatened by climate change. However, ammonia released from their poop may be contributing to increased regional cloud formation that halts ice loss and protects their habitat. 'There are connections between things that happen on our natural planet that we just don't necessarily expect,' Matthew Boyer, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Helsinki, told The Washington Post. 'And this is one of them.' Boyer was the lead author of the related research, which was recently published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment. Ammonia, which is a naturally occurring chemical compound often used in disinfecting products, can ramp up cloud formation when it chemically interacts with gases that contain the smelly element sulphur. This reaction increases the creation of particles in the air that give water vapor — water in its gaseous form — a surface to condense upon: changing it into a liquid. That's how clouds are formed. Ammonia clouds have been found on Jupiter, and over Southeast Asia. The resulting clouds can serve as insulating layers in the atmosphere, as well as help to reduce surface temperatures and keep the surrounding sea ice from melting. Last year, the sea ice extent in the Southern Ocean around Antarctica was the second smallest on record. This March saw Antarctic sea ice plunge, as well. The sea ice, which is more reflective than water, plays a significant role in keeping polar regions cool. 'We can hypothesize that there will be a cooling effect from the clouds because, in general, that is the most prominent effect of clouds in the atmosphere,' Boyer explained. To reach their conclusions, Boyer and his colleagues measured the concentration of ammonia in the air at a site near Marambio Base in the winter of 2023. They were downwind of the colony of 60,000 Adélie penguins, and their poop. When the wind blew from that direction, they found the concentration of ammonia in the air increased to more than 1,000 times higher than the baseline level. Furthermore, it was still more than 100 times higher than the baseline after the penguins had migrated from the area by the end of February. To confirm that this was the direct result of the guano's ammonia, they took several additional atmospheric measurements on a single day, finding that the number and size of particles at the site sharply increased when the wind blew from the colony. Just three hours later, they observed a period of fog that they say was likely the result of the increased particles. Although the specific interaction between penguins and the Antarctic climate is currently poorly understood, Antarctic ecosystems are facing significant pressures because of human-driven climate change that is driving sea ice loss as global warming continues. Warmer waters may mean less of the phytoplankton that krill and fish eat, reducing the penguins' food supply. The researchers say that their conclusions emphasize the importance of protecting penguins, which play a vital role in balancing their ecosystems. Although these birds may only be just over two feet tall, their contribution may be massive. 'The oceans and the penguins are influencing the atmosphere and actually influencing the local climate in Antarctica,' said Boyer. 'The local changes in Antarctica will have an impact on global climate.'
