The following is a guest post from Dr. Geoff Lipsett-Moore, the Conservancy’s northern Australia program director. Dr. Moore has previously dabbled in cooler climates, including overwintering on Heard Island and an expedition to summit unclimbed peaks on the peninsula. Read more about his adventures.

While on a hike in southwest Tasmania recently, my wife and I stumbled across a young southern elephant seal bull hauled out on a beach. He was a long way north (roughly 1500 km, or 900 miles) of Macquarie Island, his usual haunt. The rich smells and happy farting sounds from the young sleeping bull instantly whisked me back in time and space to the Subantarctic islands and beyond.

When most people think of Antarctica, they think of cold. They conjure up a sheet of ice — a forbidding, impenetrable, icy wasteland where only penguins, seals and a hearty few scientists and explorers and adventurers dare tread.

As someone who’s spent some time in the Subantarctic and Antarctica, however, I can tell you that the western coast of the Antarctic peninsula is considered to be the fastest-warming place on Earth.

Things are changing for Antarctica. On the continent where, in 1989, scientists recorded the coldest temperature ever — -89° Celsius, or -128° Fahrenheit — things are heating up. That’s worrying news — for science, for wildlife and for people.

There’s proof on the peninsula. Over the past sixty years, mid-winter temperatures here have increased at a rate of roughly one degree Celsius per decade. In some places, temperatures have increased at a rate that’s 10 times greater than the average rate of global warming. Rainfall, which used to be a rarity on the peninsula, is becoming an increasingly frequent phenomenon.

That’s bad news for many penguin populations. Adélie penguins, for example, have largely fled the peninsula: the population there has decreased by more than 80 percent. Meanwhile, gentoo penguins have taken over. Because this species can survive without ice, they’re thriving in areas they would have previously considered to be inhospitable.

In perhaps the most distressing indication of change, a colony of emperor penguins that had been studied since 1948 was locally extirpated. Scientists found that the colony, once located off the peninsula in the Dion islands, disappeared due to a lack of sea ice and predicted that other colonies may meet similar fates.

Warming isn’t unique to western Antarctica. The eastern portion of the continent has also seen major glacial retreat. Over the past decade, the area has lost more than 10 gigatons of ice each year.

The Arctic and Antarctic ice sheets are like the bulb of a thermometer, and the extent of the winter sea ice in both regions is a bit like mercury in the stem of that same thermometer. It allows us to measure global well-being in the same way we measure our own health against a steady core temperature of 37.5° Celsius. The rapid decline in winter sea ice extent and the rapid break-out in summer is symptomatic of the general decline in the health of the planet brought about by our own consumptive activities.

Seeing a young seal bull up on the Tasmanian beach, I’m reminded that the world is rapidly changing. As a Subantarctic beast, the bull seemed perfectly comfortable lying on a the Tasmanian beach. From my past meanderings across glaciers, whether on Subantarctic Heard Island or the Antarctic Peninsula, I suspect many of the crossings which previously required ice axe and crampons now require either a pair of flippers and a dry suit or gum boots.

The positive in this is that the world and climate has always changed and life on earth has always adapted to match it. However, can life as we know it respond to the current rate of change? I guess we’ll see.

[Images courtesy of Geoff Lipsett-Moore/TNC]

1. Here are 6 ways that climate change is impacting animals. (TreeHugger)
2. Air pollution could become China’s biggest health threat. (Guardian)
3. Squid have eyes the size of soccer balls, and now we know why. (Wired)
4. How packaged foods are making girls hyper. (Scientific American)
5. “Extraordinary” study shows crocs have strongest bite ever measured, may rival T. rex. (National Geographic)

1. Nash Prairie is a “beautiful representation of what Texas really looked like,” says our Texas state director.  (Houston Chronicle)
2. A new documentary explores how disappearing glaciers devastate communities.  (Grist)
3. If the entire world lived at New York City’s density level, we could all fit into the state of Texas.  Crazy!  (Treehugger)
4. Warming Arctic temperatures are releasing long-buried, long-frozen toxins, which could eventually reach our food and water supplies.  (YaleE360)
5. Can you trust your local drinking water?  (The Daily Green)

1. Oyster mushrooms can break down disposable diapers in four months.  (EcoGeek)
2. A new report reveals that Brazil’s protected areas could be more protected.  (Mongabay)
3. Coral reefs=lifesavers, writes Sanjayan, our lead scientist.  (Huffington Post Green)
4. Planning a trip this summer?  Check out these green destinations.  (Treehugger)
5. Greenland’s glaciers have lost enough ice to fill a Great Lake, says a new study.  (YaleE360)

1. Do energy-efficient products encourage us to use  more energy? (Green)
2. China and the EU see eye-to-eye on curbing carbon emissions. (Earth Watch)
3. What do earlier blooms of phytoplankton mean for the Arctic food web? (Conservation Journal Watch)
4. Aww… see photos of the baby Mediterranean monk seal that conservationists just rescued. (BBC)
5. At Japanese vending machines, you can get a soda and fuel for your electric car. (EcoGeek)

1. A new study reveals a grim future for polar bears–and this video of a starving mom and cubs brings it all home. [Warning: the video is very hard to watch.] (Green) 
2. Green design is helping Nike recycle 82 million plastic bottles into shirts, shoes and more. (GreenBiz)
3. Sewage as a source of energy–why not? (NY Times)
4. The global economy depends on healthy ecosystems, says Prince Charles. (Mongabay)
5. If you’ve eaten a salad recently, you might want to pay attention to Southern California’s water issues. (NPR)

1. Would you drink milk from a recyclable papier-maché package?  (Treehugger)
2. Your favorite scented candle could be responsible for forest destruction.  (Grist)
3. A new study says that castrated reindeer are better at coping with climate change.  But there has to be a better way!  (Reuters, via Huffington Post Green)
4. Arctic waters are warmer than they’ve ever been at any point in the past 2,000 years.  (Green)
5. Andrew Revkin explains “sustainable,” and answers many other pressing questions.  (Dot Earth)

1. The Northeast is the new Artic. Brrrr. (The New York Times)
2. Dow’s collaboration with the Conservancy is “a small step for a company, a giant leap for critters of all kinds,” says Joel Makower. (Green Biz)
3. Cyber-thieves hack the Czech carbon registry and make off with $38 million in carbon credits. (Mongabay)
4. REDD needs to focus on the needs of local people, says a new report. (Conservation Journal Watch)
5. One of Obama’s top climate and energy advisers is stepping down–what impact will her departure have? (Grist)

1. So the earth could warm by 2, 5 or 18 degrees Fahrenheit… what’s the big deal? Must we quibble over numbers? (Green)
2. Some folks are turning to bartering to save green this holiday season. Added perk: it’s a green way to give!  (New York Times)
3. According to U.S. law, polar bears are still only threatened, not endangered. (BBC)
4. Yet, in the face of global warming, scientists want to plan for a refuge for polar bears. (YaleE360) 
5. Your cell phone can now squeak like an American pika when you download endangered species ringtones. (Grist)

1. Depending on whom you ask, there either is or isn’t still oil deep in the Gulf.  (Christian Science Monitor)
2. The U.N. adopts resolutions on coral reef and marine biodiversity protection.  (Deep Sea News)
3. Warming up your car in cold weather is probably totally unnecessary.  (The Daily Green)
4. If the climate keeps changing, what’s going to happen to polar bears?  (Dot Earth)
5. Here’s yet another take on the real vs. fake Christmas tree debate.  Sounds like Team Real Tree is still in the lead.  (New York Times)