A tale of two poles
UD scientists study penguins, sea jellies on opposite poles this month
2:14 p.m., Jan. 12, 2015--University of Delaware marine scientists from the College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment (CEOE) are on opposite ends of the world this month, studying Adélie penguins in Antarctica and sea jellies and other marine organisms in the Arctic.
CEOE scientists Matt Oliver, Megan Cimino and team are at Palmer Station on the West Antarctic Peninsula. They are investigating the local physical processes that affect how Adélie penguins forage for food, as part of Project CONVERGE, a collaborative research project between Rutgers University, UD, the Polar Oceans Research Group and the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Last fall, the team reported a connection between local weather and penguin chick weights in the journal Marine Ecology Progress Series.
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Researchers Mark Moline and Jonathan Cohen are headed to the archipelago Svalbard, north of mainland Norway, to study how marine organisms such as krill and sea jellies survive when the sunlight disappears in the Arctic. Part of an international research team, the work builds on a 2014 excursion exploring how sea life copes with continuous winter darkness.
This is the first installment in an ongoing post through communications with UD research teams at the North and South poles. Follow their global journeys on social media -- and see photos -- using the hashtag #UDPolar.
Article by Karen B. Roberts
Photos by Matthew Oliver and Megan Cimino, University of Delaware