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Jumping in

A plucky Adelie penguin clears a meltwater stream stained brown by the acres of guano it has trickled through. “The Adelie is this really tough little character that doesn’t have the brainpower we have,” Ballard said. “But just by being here they’ve proved they can survive big climate changes. They show us how they cope every day.” When a 97-mile-long iceberg spent five years lodged against Cape Crozier, locking Ross Island in ice Day 9, Ballard and Ainley recorded some of that coping. Some penguins persevered, walking across miles of solid ice to reach their traditional nesting grounds. Others moved to colonies closer to open water. Humans may face the same kinds of decisions as our world warms. With billions of people on the planet – most of them near the coast – either choice is likely to entail a lot of work.

(Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)