Dr Michelle Dickinson: nanotechnologist reveals how penguins help drive cloud formation over Antarctica

When you think of penguins, you might imagine adorable black-and-white birds waddling across icy landscapes. But a surprising new study published in the journal Communications Earth and Environment reveals that penguins might also be helping to form clouds that could influence climate change. 

Adélie penguins, a species found only in Antarctica, eat a diet rich in fish and krill. This high-protein menu results in poop, or guano, that’s not just smelly but chemically active, releasing ammonia gas into the atmosphere. 

That ammonia reacts with sulfur-containing gases in the air, creating tiny particles which give water vapor something to cling to, helping clouds to form. 

The researchers set up instruments near a colony of 60,000 penguins. They found that when the wind carried air from the colony, ammonia levels were up to 1,000 times higher than normal. Even after the penguins moved on, the leftover guano kept producing ammonia. The scientists also noticed more fog, likely caused by the increased aerosol particles shortly after these ammonia spikes. 

The findings confirmed that penguin poop significantly boosts the formation of clouds, by up to 10,000X. 

Clouds play a major role in our planet’s climate. Over the ocean, clouds typically have a cooling effect. Over Antarctica’s bright, reflective ice, however, the impact can be more complex. In some cases, clouds may trap heat, warming the surface below. 

Scientists are still figuring out exactly how penguin-made clouds influence temperatures, but understanding these natural systems is critical to improving climate models.   

One fascinating idea raised by this study is that declining penguin populations, due to climate change, could actually reduce cloud formation, which might in turn make warming even worse. 

And while it’s still too early to know how big of a role penguin poop plays in Earth’s climate, researchers believe it’s another important piece of the climate puzzle and a reminder why protecting penguin colonies isn’t just about saving the birds, it might also help protect the planet.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudgin
from News Talks EDB.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Doctor Michelle Dickinson is with us with our science study
of the week. It ah another rather delightful study for
us to do with penguins, and I'm really intrigued. I
had absolutely no idea that they might be helping to
form clouds. This is something totally new I'm learning about
penguins this morning.

Speaker 3 (00:30):
You know me, I spend reading the most bizarre research
studies that come out.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
We just send you down robitt holes, don't we.

Speaker 3 (00:37):
And it's hard to pictures one because there are many.
But this week we are talking about a new study
published in the journal Communications Earth and Environment. It's open source,
you can go ahead and read it. Lovely pictures of
penguins in it. But this blew my mind too. So
we used to penguins being these cute little furry things
waddle around on the ice, and we see pictures of
the Antarctica and go, oh, that's cute, and we know

(00:59):
that they are struggling because the changing climate means that
the ice is melting and the fish are less, and
so we know that penguins are struggling out there, as
are many other animals and birds, but this study is
all about penguin poo. So penguin poo because these penguins
eat lots of fish, lots of krill. It's full of protein,
which means it's highly stinky. You can smell penguin poop

(01:22):
from a long way away. It's also very sticky, and
in areas where they breed, they're hanging out in the
same place for a long time. So the pooh is
building up and building up and stinking and sticking together
and it forms something called guano, and guano is like
a highly nutrient dense layer of poop basically that stays

(01:42):
around even when the penguins leave this breeding site. And
so these researchers in Antarctica started to notice that where
the penguins were breaking often there was a fog forming
right around the penguins. And they're like, that's weird. What
are penguins doing to make this area foggy? And so
they started measuring lots of different things, and they found
that this guano is actually producing ammonia. Guess, like lots

(02:07):
of it, like a thousand times more than there would
be normally in the atmosphere, and this ammonia gas is
reacting with things in the environment, including sulfur containing gases
in the air, and when those two mix, clouds form
it creates a nucleation site where water vapor forms, and
lots of water vapor together is a cloud. And so

(02:27):
what they found is that this dense ammonia cloud with
this sulfur containing gas is creating clouds because of the
poop of the penguins and because the sticky poos stays
even when the penguins have left. These clouds are forming
over this penguin area. Even when there are no penguins
there is.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
The level of ammonia in the air. Is it good?

Speaker 3 (02:51):
It's not great, But if you're an Antarctica, nothing else
is doing that, so it's interesting from it. Nobody has
really measured ammonia levels right in general anyway, never mind
in Antarctica. So that was interesting. But then they got
thinking about, well, how will this afflect the localized climate,
Because if you think about clouds forming over a very
specific area when the sun shines, it might stop the

(03:13):
sun warmth getting to the Earth. But because Antarctica is
all ice, antarctica ground actually reflects a lot of heat
back up, and so then they go, well, maybe that
bounces off these clouds, and then maybe it's going to
create more warming and Antarctica specifically, because now you've got
this light bouncing up and down off the ice in
the clouds. They don't know. It hasn't been measured, but

(03:34):
they've gone are their localized climate effects that could be
bad for penguins because of how the penguins are poop.

Speaker 2 (03:41):
Okay, so we're not entirely sure this is good news
or bed.

Speaker 3 (03:43):
We don't know, but we do know it's news and
poop is creating clouds.

Speaker 2 (03:46):
You've been too Antarctica? Are you? Heaven? God is one
place you haven't been? Because I believe that they can
smell the penguins before they see them, because I've.

Speaker 3 (03:54):
Been to Ke, I've been inside. I've been inside the
Antarctica Center at Krashurt and I hang up with the
penguins air and there's only a handful and it stinks,
so not quite Antarctica. But I've been close enough to
a penguin to go, Yes, their poo is hor renders,
but yeah, guano creating clouds really funny, really unique. Never
thought about who's and clouds being connected. And no, we

(04:15):
don't know if it's good or bad for the penguins,
but we do know it is now thanks to science.

Speaker 2 (04:19):
And you can find that study at Nature dot.

Speaker 3 (04:21):
Com Communications Earth and Environment, which is at nature dot com.

Speaker 2 (04:24):
Brilliant. Thank you so much, Michelle.

Speaker 1 (04:27):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to News Talks it'd be from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio