Penguin colonies and weather in Admiralty Bay in a colder year

Climate change will affect many species in the next decades. Antarctic seabirds are of special concern given their dependence on the balance of sea ice-caps. The objective of this paper is to present information about weather and penguin colonies in the last extreme cold summer of 2009/2010. We verified the average temperature in November (beginning of seabird breeding) which was lower than for most years since 1987 with a slight tendency to decline, and thus the number of snow days was also high in relation to the period average, with a tendency to increase in time. The Adelie Penguin has the biggest colony area followed by Chinstrap Penguin, while Gentoo Penguin has the smallest area. As seabirds breed on ice-free areas, the joint effect of lower temperatures and enhanced precipitation in Spring can affect habitat availability for nesting, potentially disrupting reproduction timing and the future breeding population and success.