Kia ora

I came back from my second trip to the white continent last January.  This was a great trip but a terrible year for the wildlife living  in this part of Antarctica (Terre Adélie). None of the Adelie penguins succeed to breed and the juvenile mortality of the Emperor penguins was at its highest since the monitoring of the colony started in the  60s. A very bad year indeed!

The main reason was the  sea ice along Antarctica coast which  did not melt in spring & summer as it usually does every year. Consequently adult penguins had to walk longer distance before reaching the open sea where they forage.  They came back then less often to the colony and most of the chicks died of starvation.

You might think that this weather anomaly is in contradiction with global temperature increase but another very intriguing event was the first time rain was recorded at the base of Dumont D’Urville. The explanation lies within wind pattern change at higher latitude. Climate change in action…

Regarding photography, I did far less pictures this time compared to my first trip in 2009 as I was very busy with my job but I was lucky to take more photographic gears with me  including a medium format film camera  (Mamiya 7II + 50mm) and an Holga 120.

I have not finished to develop the film rolls yet so only  pictures made with my DSLR have been posted. The best pictures of 2009 and 2013 are presented  in the Terre Adelie gallery. 

A bientôt, Dominique