Antarctica Research Paper

One Hundred years ago there were 1.5 billion people on earth. Today over 7 billion crowd our delicate planet. Even so there are places barely touched by humanity. Antarctica is continuously dark and temperatures drop to extreme lows that any human life residing is purposely there working towards scientific research. Antarctica like many other places in our planet earth faces vast climate changes. Glacial melting and rapid decline of sea ice sheets are destroying any signs of natural habitats. The West Antarctic Peninsula is currently considered the fastest winter warming place on planet earth. Currently the Peninsula has experienced a winter temperature increase of 11 degrees Fahrenheit over the last 50 years. This is more than six times the average global warming record. Antarctica is the only continent surrounded entirely by a powerful ocean current called The Antarctica Circumpolar Current. This is the only current that flows completely around the globe. This current is a mixture of the Earth’s ocean current …show more content…
Not having enough sea ice production causes a downward domino effect on plants and animals that reside there. Phytoplankton grows and forms in the sea ice. Phytoplankton could possibly play the most important role in helping us understand the decline of the Adelie penguins in Antarctica. The Adeline penguins feed on Krill; these are small crustaceans that feed on Phytoplankton. Since Krill have become scarce because of the lapse of sea ice Adelie penguins have been on the move. These penguins have begun migrating in search of krill and soon these penguins will have traveled to all possible locations in Antarctica. With no other place to go we will see a decline and even see this particular species go into extinction. The Adeline penguins were just and example of this disaster. There are many other species being affected such as polar bears, seals, and great whales, and