Also add a voice to the list (never too thick) of ours Natural allies against climate change: penguins. In particular their guano: according to a study published on Communications Earth & Environmentthe poop of the penguins contributes in an appreciable way to maintaining the antarctic temperatures a little lower than they would be without excrement. The secret is in an ingredient that, speaking of dejections, we are used to associating with pee: ammonia.
What is guano, and because it is so important. The study was carried out in Antarctica because it is there that the penguins are, but also because the area is an excellent open -air laboratory to study the effects of certain elements on the formation of clouds. Elsewhere, in fact, human activities and vegetation contribute decisively to cloudy coverage; In Antarctica, the sheath of penguins is fundamental.
This is because the guano is not only poop, but a mix of stool and urine that contains large quantities of ammonia, which is released in the air in a gaseous form. When the ammonia mixes with the sulfurosis gases produced by the phytoplankton, and also released in the atmosphere, the form of the small condensing nuclei around which clouds develop.
The clouds are born from the manure. The team of the University of Helsinki has therefore tried to measure the concentration of ammonia in the surrounding air to some colonies of Antarctic penguins. Well, The guano of these birds leads this concentration to touch 13 -part peaks per billion, about ten times so much the “normal” concentration.
In short, The sheath of the penguins has the power to create cloudswhich in turn help to maintain the temperature a little lower. We do not know how much it would be (further) without the contribution of poop and pee, and we hope we never discover it.
