Chat With Antarctic Scientists and Watch Their Penguin Cam [Video]

Scientists at Palmer Station, Antarctica, are studying how penguins gather enough food to raise their chicks. Josh Kohut of Rutgers University and Bill Fraser of the Polar Oceans Research Group are part of a team using advanced robotic sea gliders to sample ocean currents and trace energy all the way up the food chain to the penguins. Their findings are helping to illustrate what’s happening to the ecology of the Antarctic Peninsula, one of the fastest-warming places on the planet.

We had the chance to video chat with the scientists and enjoy extensive views of one of the penguin colonies they’re studying. Nearly 500 people viewed the livestreaming video chat, and Josh and Bill answered many of their questions about penguins, krill, ocean currents, and life in Antarctica.

For those of you who weren’t able to catch the video chat, here’s an archive of the hourlong conversation and video feed. This event was a warmup for a number of additional live video chats planned for next season, in January 2015. Please follow us on Facebook or Twitter to hear about these and other opportunities to get a unique window on birds.

This conversation was a rare opportunity—bandwidth on Palmer Station is limited, and we got special permission to stream this video call for an hour. Thanks to the National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs, the IT department at Palmer Station, and the Liberty Science Center for helping make the call possible.