Sometimes, you just have to laugh. This is from the AGU, EoS and it was an actual funded science study, published in an applied physics journal no less. Personally, with them making the jump from weather to climate in describing weather event driven penguin behavior in this press release, it looks like emperor junk science to me.
The conclusion? “The findings agree with the well-established idea that the penguins huddle primarily for warmth and not for protection against predators…”
Newsflash: Adult emperor penguins have no predators on land, where they huddle. Only chicks are at risk from predators when they don’t huddle. What next? Penguin regurgitation rate as a proxy for local CO2 levels? Penguin poop as a proxy for Antarctic albedo?
SMH. I weep for science.
Emperor Penguins’ Huddles Change in Response to Weather
How quickly the penguins huddled when weather worsened provided clues about their feeding success and how climate change may alter the Antarctic biosphere, according to scientists.
By Kimberly M. S. CartierOn the frozen landscape of Antarctica, emperor penguins huddle together to shield against cold, windy, and harsh conditions. This lets the penguins share warmth and conserve energy during extended times between forages and during breeding.Now scientists have used advances in remote sensing techniques to observe the evolution of an emperor penguin huddle at Atka Bay in eastern Antarctica. Their study revealed the primary trigger that prompts the birds to huddle and reaffirmed the main purpose of the groupings.Huddle locations often lie kilometers from the nearest permanent research station amid extremely cold (−50°C) and windy (150-kilometer-per-hour) conditions. They also tend to migrate around.
For the last 6 years of my career I taught math (don’t ask). One day there was a fire in a freight elevator. The entire school emptied onto its playgrounds. It was 10 below 0 F with a howeling wind. No coats. No boots. Standing in the middle of a soccer field.
We all became penguins, instinctively, with each classroom forming up into huddles. This was an inner city school with tough kids that spent all of their lives avoiding being close to anything. For a half hour we jumped in place and the biggest kids naturally migrated out to shelter smaller, more poorly dressed kids in the center.
As a warming process, it sucks. Paradoxically it warmed my heart more than my skin. Beyond some comfort threshold, the behavior is automatic and no longer f(T).
Sara
June 16, 2018 4:57 am
I do have a solution for these very silly people. They need to find their Happy Feet!!!
And consensus climate “scientists” huddle to avoid debate, sharing data, explaining their frequent flyer points and because it is really embarrassing when every single prediction you make is not just wrong but diametrically opposite to what nature presents. If intellectctual honesty and scientific rigor were heat, then the consensus huddle is the coldest place on earth.
Kristi Silber
June 17, 2018 12:34 am
Once again, a press release (news article) is deemed representative of the research, and scientists castigated for the words of a staff writer. And it’s complete with ridicule, of course! “Newsflash: Adult emperor penguins have no predators on land, where they huddle. Only chicks are at risk from predators when they don’t huddle.” But the ridicule is a failure. No one suggested that huddles were meant to protect the adults; it’s theoretically equally likely that they are meant to protect chicks from predators. Besides, that is not the “conclusion” reached by the research.
I think it’s pretty interesting that animal behavior can be used as a proxy for a climatic index – at least during times when they are known to be well-fed. I’m curious how the researchers treat the interaction of the condition of the birds and the climate trigger.
Johann Wundersamer
June 17, 2018 1:00 am
“Additional SPOT instruments simultaneously recorded the local wind speed, ambient temperature, solar radiation, and relative humidity.By comparing the local weather conditions to the penguins’ huddling habits, the researchers found
– that during a typical month, ” lots of penguins huddle in Antarctica bevore cameras
– while lots of researchers at the continents huddle bevor video screens.
Tom in Florida
June 17, 2018 4:36 am
Perhaps we are just watching the semi-finals of Antarctic Rules Football.
Jim
June 17, 2018 10:39 am
The purpose of much “scientific” study these days is to “prove” or at least demonstrate the “significant effects” of global warming. It’s “let’s try this”, “let’s try that”, “let’s try this other thing”. Some of them pan out and are published, others don’t and are either modified to show the desired result or thrown in the trash.
Hocus Locus
June 18, 2018 1:49 am
As penguins huddled and trudged in a circle endlessly, chicks tumbled out from between their legs and froze… researchers sipping coffee while gazing thru binoculars from warm tents clicked counters for Science, ignoring the birds’ desperate cries for help.
True penguin huddling story…..
For the last 6 years of my career I taught math (don’t ask). One day there was a fire in a freight elevator. The entire school emptied onto its playgrounds. It was 10 below 0 F with a howeling wind. No coats. No boots. Standing in the middle of a soccer field.
We all became penguins, instinctively, with each classroom forming up into huddles. This was an inner city school with tough kids that spent all of their lives avoiding being close to anything. For a half hour we jumped in place and the biggest kids naturally migrated out to shelter smaller, more poorly dressed kids in the center.
As a warming process, it sucks. Paradoxically it warmed my heart more than my skin. Beyond some comfort threshold, the behavior is automatic and no longer f(T).
I do have a solution for these very silly people. They need to find their Happy Feet!!!
And consensus climate “scientists” huddle to avoid debate, sharing data, explaining their frequent flyer points and because it is really embarrassing when every single prediction you make is not just wrong but diametrically opposite to what nature presents. If intellectctual honesty and scientific rigor were heat, then the consensus huddle is the coldest place on earth.
Once again, a press release (news article) is deemed representative of the research, and scientists castigated for the words of a staff writer. And it’s complete with ridicule, of course! “Newsflash: Adult emperor penguins have no predators on land, where they huddle. Only chicks are at risk from predators when they don’t huddle.” But the ridicule is a failure. No one suggested that huddles were meant to protect the adults; it’s theoretically equally likely that they are meant to protect chicks from predators. Besides, that is not the “conclusion” reached by the research.
I think it’s pretty interesting that animal behavior can be used as a proxy for a climatic index – at least during times when they are known to be well-fed. I’m curious how the researchers treat the interaction of the condition of the birds and the climate trigger.
“Additional SPOT instruments simultaneously recorded the local wind speed, ambient temperature, solar radiation, and relative humidity.By comparing the local weather conditions to the penguins’ huddling habits, the researchers found
– that during a typical month, ” lots of penguins huddle in Antarctica bevore cameras
– while lots of researchers at the continents huddle bevor video screens.
Perhaps we are just watching the semi-finals of Antarctic Rules Football.
The purpose of much “scientific” study these days is to “prove” or at least demonstrate the “significant effects” of global warming. It’s “let’s try this”, “let’s try that”, “let’s try this other thing”. Some of them pan out and are published, others don’t and are either modified to show the desired result or thrown in the trash.
As penguins huddled and trudged in a circle endlessly, chicks tumbled out from between their legs and froze… researchers sipping coffee while gazing thru binoculars from warm tents clicked counters for Science, ignoring the birds’ desperate cries for help.