QUESTION:
I read in a CNN article that the Antarctic peninsula was melting. Will this
have any short term effects on penguins?

                Jason N.
                3rd grade
                9 years old

ANSWER from Donna Patterson, Research Assistant, Dr. Fraser's Team
            Palmer Station, Antarctica
            Sun, 9 Mar 1997 14:24:34 -0500

Dear Jason, 

The Antarctic Peninsula has large ice shelves that are breaking apart 
in some places (south of Palmer Station, for example).  Over the 
short term, it is very difficult to say what the effects might be as 
we do not know that yet.   The penguins that use ice shelves or fast 
ice during a part of the year, such as Adelies or Emperors, may lose 
some of their habitat for wintering or breeding.   One of our 
concerns as researchers is to find out what is causing the breakup of 
ice, and how that will affect penguins and other seabirds over many 
generations.   We now understand how changes in sea ice can affect 
the breeding penguins, but the relationship was not obvious without 
first collecting many years of data.  

Thanks for your question!
Donna