{"id":260213,"date":"2025-05-27T18:25:50","date_gmt":"2025-05-27T18:25:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/aerospace\/penguin-poop-helps-drive-cloud-formation-over-antarctica-according-to-a-new-study\/"},"modified":"2025-05-27T18:25:50","modified_gmt":"2025-05-27T18:25:50","slug":"penguin-poop-helps-drive-cloud-formation-over-antarctica-according-to-a-new-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=260213","title":{"rendered":"Penguin Poop Helps Drive Cloud Formation Over Antarctica, According to a New Study"},"content":{"rendered":"


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The ammonia from Ad\u00e9lie penguin guano reacts with sulfur-containing gases in the atmosphere to aid in forming clouds, which scientists say may be significant to regulating the climate<\/h2>\n
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Sara Hashemi<\/a><\/p>\n

– Daily Correspondent<\/span><\/p>\n

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A research team measured ammonia concentrations from a colony of 60,000 Ad\u00e9lie penguins.
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Penguin poop<\/a>, also known as guano, is notoriously smelly. But the ammonia in the birds\u2019 excrement does more than just stink\u2014it can play a role in cloud formation over Antarctica.<\/p>\n

Those clouds affect climate systems, and they could potentially<\/a> reduce the impacts of climate change by regulating surface temperatures, according to a new paper, though the exact consequences of these clouds aren\u2019t fully known.<\/p>\n

Ad\u00e9lie penguins<\/a> eat lots of fish and krill, so their guano<\/a> contains nitrogen that breaks down into ammonia gas. That ammonia then reacts with other gases in the atmosphere that contain sulfur, creating aerosol particles, according to a new study published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment<\/em><\/a>. In turn, those aerosol particles provide a surface for water vapor to condense upon and form clouds.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are connections between things that happen on our natural planet that we just don\u2019t necessarily expect,\u201d says lead author Matthew Boyer<\/a>, a doctoral candidate at the University of Helsinki in Finland, to Kasha Patel at the Washington Post<\/em><\/a>. \u201cAnd this is one of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boyer and his colleagues measured the concentrations of ammonia and other gases in the air roughly five miles away from a colony of 60,000 Ad\u00e9lie penguins in Antarctica. They set up their instruments near Marambio Base, a research station on the Antarctic Peninsula, and took measurements between January 10 and March 20, 2023. When the wind blew from the direction of the colony, ammonia concentrations skyrocketed as high as 13.5 parts per billion\u20141,000 times higher than the baseline value measured by the instruments. Those concentrations remained elevated even after the penguins migrated to other areas, leaving their guano behind.<\/p>\n

The scientists also observed fog in the hours after ammonia concentrations spiked. That fog was likely a result of the increase in aerosol particle concentration, according to a statement<\/a> from the journal.<\/p>\n

Scientists already knew that ammonia influenced cloud formation over Antarctica, but the new work specifically tested the connection to penguin poop. According to the study, the guano\u2019s byproducts accelerated the formation of clouds by 10,000 times.<\/p>\n

The scientists didn\u2019t measure the clouds\u2019 effect on the climate, and they say further research is needed to determine exactly how much the penguin-driven cloud cover is impacting temperatures. But if those clouds behave like most others around the planet, they could insulate the surface from sunlight and have a cooling effect.<\/p>\n

\u201cClouds influence the surface radiation budget, which affects surface temperature. Therefore, clouds impact climate change,\u201d Boyer explains to Laura Baisas at Popular Science<\/em><\/a>. \u201cThis is true across the entire planet, not just in Antarctica.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the clouds form over ocean, they\u2019re likely to cool the surface<\/a>. However, clouds above glaciers and ice sheets might have the opposite effect: Antarctica\u2019s ice is so reflective that the clouds there could actually trap that reflected heat, warming the ground instead. \u201cThe overall effect hinges on where the clouds form and drift,\u201d write Issam Ahmed and Charlotte Causit for the Agence France-Presse<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ken Carslaw<\/a>, an atmospheric scientist at University of Leeds in England who was not involved in the work, tells the Washington Post<\/em> <\/em>it\u2019s unlikely the clouds linked to the penguins would affect climate change. But they do show a key natural process, he adds. \u201cIt\u2019s vital to understand these natural environments are the baseline from which we quantify and understand human effects on climate,\u201d Carslaw tells the Post<\/em>. \u201cThese observations are another piece of the puzzle that will help to improve how clouds are represented in climate models.\u201d<\/p>\n

But if the clouds formed by birds\u2019 guano do offset warming\u2014as a study<\/a> from 2016 suggests\u2014the researchers hypothesize that drops in penguin populations could influence Antarctica\u2019s climate. Some populations of Ad\u00e9lie penguins have seen dramatic declines<\/a> in recent years, so the scientists want to understand the role they\u2014and their poop\u2014can play in regulating the local climate.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this paper is correct\u2014and it really seems to be a nice piece of work to me\u2014[there\u2019s going to be] a feedback effect, where it\u2019s going to accelerate the changes that are already pushing change in the penguins,\u201d Peter Roopnarine<\/a>, curator of geology at the California Academy of Sciences, tells Grist<\/em><\/a>\u2019s Matt Simon.<\/p>\n

Scientists could study and protect other bird colonies that might be playing a role in the formation of clouds, he adds to Grist<\/em>, as a natural strategy to offset warming. \u201cWe think it\u2019s for the sake of the birds,\u201d Roopnarine says. \u201cWell, obviously it goes well beyond that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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