Current:Home > StocksAP PHOTOS: On Antarctica’s ice and in its seas, penguins in a warming world -Visionary Wealth Guides
AP PHOTOS: On Antarctica’s ice and in its seas, penguins in a warming world
View
Date:2025-04-12 05:27:24
KING GEORGE ISLAND, Antarctica (AP) — When U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visited Antarctica in November to highlight a planet in peril to set the stage for global climate talks in Dubai, he went to see an accelerating ice melt, not penguins.
But penguins were all around as Guterres and his entourage toured glaciers and visited Chile’s Eduardo Frei Air Force Base on King George Island.
They gathered by the hundreds to brood on nests, and stood in twos and threes at water’s edge in the soft light of an evening sun.
A passenger on the Chilean Navy ship Aquiles looks out at an iceberg in the Bransfield Straits, South Shetlands, Antarctica, Nov. 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)
Penguins walk at King George Island’s beach, Antarctica, Nov. 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)
Penguin footprints are visible in the snow near the Chilean O’Higgins base in Antarctica, Nov. 24, 2023. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)
The gentoo penguins weren’t always together. One penguin waddles ashore, perhaps after successfully finding a meal in the frigid — but warming — ocean waters off the continent’s tip. Another dives, surely seeking the same.
The continent is both forbidding and beautiful, with craggy ice glowing an ethereal blue within. It’s fragile, too; scientists have marked huge melts in many of its protective ice shelves, and one recent study found that a big chunk of its ice is doomed to unavoidable melt even with big cutbacks in global emissions.
Guterres’ visit serves as a reminder to nations at the climate talks of what’s at stake as they negotiate how and whether the world should phase out fossil fuels to head off the worst consequences of planetary warming — a threat that could one day mean these penguins, and their footprints, are gone.
A penguin stands near at Bransfield Strait shore, Antarctica, Nov. 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)
Penguins mate near Bransfield Strait shore, in Antarctica, Nov. 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)
Boats of the Chilean Navy manuever at Bransfield Strait, Antarctica, Nov. 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)
Penguins leave the water to reach King George Island, Antarctica, Nov. 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)
Ice melts at Bransfield Strait shore, Antarctica, Nov. 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)
Penguins stand near the Chilean O’Higgins base in Antarctica, Friday, Nov. 24, 2023. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)
A penguin’s colony is visible near Bransfield Strait shore, Antarctica, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)
A woman walks outside Chile’s Eduardo Frei Air Force Base at King George Island, South Shetlands, Antarctica, Nov. 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)
A Iceberg floats at Bransfield Strait, Antarctica, Nov. 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)
Penguins walk near Chile’s O’Higgins Base, Antarctica, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)
A penguin swims near the Bransfield Strait shore, Antarctica, Nov. 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)
___
Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
veryGood! (2984)
Related
- Friday the 13th luck? 13 past Mega Millions jackpot wins in December. See top 10 lottery prizes
- What to watch: Let's rage with Nic Cage
- Man gets 226-year prison sentences for killing 2 Alaska Native women. He filmed the torture of one
- Poland’s centrist government suffers defeat in vote on liberalizing abortion law
- Newly elected West Virginia lawmaker arrested and accused of making terroristic threats
- What to watch: Let's rage with Nic Cage
- Pregnant Margot Robbie and Husband Tom Ackerley Pack on the PDA at Wimbledon 2024
- Horoscopes Today, July 12, 2024
- Costco membership growth 'robust,' even amid fee increase: What to know about earnings release
- This woman threw french fries on her husband's grave. Millions laughed – and grieved.
Ranking
- Could your smelly farts help science?
- Alix Earle's Sister Ashtin Earle Addresses PDA Photos With DJ John Summit
- Arizona abortion initiative backers sue to remove ‘unborn human being’ from voter pamphlet language
- Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards 2024 are this weekend: Date, time, categories, where to watch
- Will the 'Yellowstone' finale be the last episode? What we know about Season 6, spinoffs
- Billy Joel isn’t ready to retire. What’s next after his Madison Square Garden residency?
- Judge rejects effort by Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson to get records from Catholic church
- Meet Kylie Cantrall, the teen TikTok star ruling Disney's 'Descendants'
Recommendation
Skins Game to make return to Thanksgiving week with a modern look
Nordstrom Anniversary Sale 2024: Shop Activewear Deals from Beyond Yoga, adidas, SPANX & More
Taylor Swift, Caitlin Clark and More Celebs React to Brittany and Patrick Mahomes’ Pregnancy Announcement
Heavy rains leave at least 200 crocodiles crawling around cities in Mexico near Texas, increasing risk for the population
Travis Hunter, the 2
4-year-old girl reported missing in Massachusetts found unresponsive in neighbor's pool
Spain's Carlos Alcaraz booed for talking Euro 2024 final after Wimbledon win in London
Georgia sheriff laments scrapped jail plans in county under federal civil rights investigation