Oceanites, the first and only non-profit organization of its kind, was started 37 years ago by researcher Ron Naveen. He has been traveling to Antarctica for nearly 42 years gathering vital data on three different types of species found on his expeditions. Gentoo, Chinstrap, and Adélie penguins are at the forefront of the climate crisis, suffering from some of the fastest rates of rising temperatures on our planet.

In the most recent issue of the SOAP report, they recorded a total of 6.12 million mating pairs nesting across 740 Antarctic sites. The report demonstrates that Chinstrap and Adélie populations continue to decline, while Gentoo populations continue to increase.

A multitude of factors impact the viability of penguin populations. Some of which include the availability of food, a safe environment that is free of disease, and the ability to healthily and steadily reproduce. Without assurance of all of these factors, the penguins populations may be forced to migrate to different parts of the continent, change their diets, and change where they are finding food.

After nearly 30 field seasons in Antarctica, Naveen has been a firsthand witness to the changes of the landscape. In the last 70 years, parts of the Antarctic continent have warmed on average significantly, with the Antarctic Peninsula now 3 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than pre-1950 records. This is ahead of the global rate of warming which has risen 2 degrees Fahrenheit, since 1850.

This subsequently causes a change in habitat for penguins. On the other hand, this also causes the emergence of new areas that were once inaccessible due to ice formations. And it is ultimately penguins who suffer from this change in environment. By reducing the amount of habitable area for penguins, population will naturally drop, it also means reproduction is hindered too, as there is less room for egg fertilization by the male penguins as the females hunt for food. Seeing new areas crop up that were once inaccessible may seem like a good thing on the surface, but it too has a negative impact on the penguins as they have to traverse new unfamiliar environments.

Despite the mounting challenges that Naveen sees Antarctica and the penguins facing, he is not giving up on seeking solutions. In the last two years, Oceanites has revolutionized their data collection techniques with the help of drone imagery. Their current technique uses these images to hand count the penguins. Oceanites is in the process of developing an algorithm that will allow computer programs to automatically count the penguins from the images produced by the drone. This technology could allow for a greater amount of data to be uploaded to the organization’s database at a much faster rate, thus making it more readily available to stakeholders who rely on this data.

Even with promising breakthroughs in data collection and research, there is still an emotional toll Naveen faces. For this lifelong researcher, the penguins make him think of the future for his own children and grandchildren. According to Naveen, what we see happening in Antarctica is a sobering glimpse of what the future for humans could look like.