Claims extracted
19
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
21%
4 of 19 hedged
("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
67/100
New York Post's corrections and
hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Environment
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
While humans might be mostly to blame for Antarctica’s snow melt, scientists are pointing to another surprising source of the a-thaw-calypse — penguin poop.
uncertain
scientists → blame → calypse
Per the study in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, these flightless birds’ droppings are fertilizing algae blooms across the Antarctic Peninsula.
asserted
droppings → fertilize → Peninsula
The penguins track fecal matter across the ice during their marches, prompting the spread of green snow that melts faster than its white counterpart.
asserted
that → track → counterpart
In turn, this bloom contributes to the rising temperatures that thaw the snow, further accelerating the greening of the frozen continent.
asserted
that → contribute → continent
“The link between wildlife, nutrients, and snow algae is a critical missing component in projections of expansion of ice-free areas in Antarctica,” the study’s senior author Alia Khan, a cryosphere biogeochemist at the University of Colorado Boulder, told Phys.org.
asserted
author → miss → Phys.org
“Without accounting for these biological darkening effects, we are likely underestimating how rapidly coastal snowpacks are melting and how fast ice-free terrain will expand across Antarctica.
asserted
terrain → account → Antarctica
This comes as the world’s largest penguin colony — a group of over 1 million chinstraps on the Zavodovski Island — saw its numbers cut in half last year as rising sea temperatures drove their food sources away.
asserted
temperatures → come → sources
To get to the bottom of this odiferous situation, Khan and her team focused on Antarctic snow algae, which changes color depending on conditions.
asserted
which → get → conditions
When nutrients are scarce or conditions are inhospitable, the plants stop growing and emit red pigments to shield themselves from the sun.
asserted
plants → stop → sun
When nutrients are plentiful, the algae load up on green pigments like chlorophyll so they can facilitate photosynthesis and bloom as much as possible during the short Antarctic summer.
asserted
they → load → summer
As this green snow absorbs 40% more energy, it ramps up the rate of melt.
asserted
it → absorb → melt
By collecting and analyzing the algae — “stinky work” that required the researchers to work near penguins that were constantly tracking their poop everywhere, per Khan — the team found that the green algae harbored guano.
asserted
algae → collect → guano
“This finding links the marine food web to snow ecology,” the researcher declared.
asserted
researcher → link → ecology
“The penguin guano acts as a fertilizer … that fuels these dense green snow algae blooms.”
asserted
that → act → blooms
This marked the first time that someone had established a link between penguin excrement and the algae’s life cycle.
asserted
someone → mark → excrement
With penguins waddling further South amid changing conditions, researchers fear that this greening could expand along with them.
uncertain
greening → waddle → them
However, more research is needed to determine exactly how much the critters’ green thumb — err … bum? — is affecting the Antarctic snowpack.
asserted
thumb → need → snowpack
Interestingly, prior research has shown that penguin poop — which coincidentally contains high levels of “laughing gas” — could actually slow the frozen continent’s recession.
uncertain
which → show → recession
Finnish researchers found that volatiles from penguin dung help form clouds, which block out the sunlight that heats up the Antarctic.
However, the exact impacts on the climate remain unclear.
uncertain
impacts → find → climate
The Aporia
