Overview
- Seven years of satellite data revealed only 25 moulting groups in 2025, down from more than 100 seen before 2022 along the Marie Byrd Land coast.
- Antarctic sea-ice extent in the study area fell from a 50-year average of about 500,000 sq km to roughly 100,000 sq km, with just about 2,000 sq km of coastal fast ice remaining.
- Researchers warn that early ice breakup during the 3–5 week moult could be catastrophic, as unfledged adults entering the Southern Ocean risk exhaustion, hypothermia and predation.
- Scientists say some birds may have relocated, but they fear large-scale adult losses, and they cannot yet distinguish redistribution from mortality in the satellite record.
- The region hosts seven colonies representing about 40% of the species, with many adults migrating up to 1,000 km from the Ross Sea, and a forthcoming Ross Sea analysis is expected to gauge population impacts.