Penguins produce so much poop, it can be studied from space. This poop isn’t noteworthy just due to its sheer volume. It’s also noteworthy because it may help fight back against our changing climate.

A study recently published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment studied the connection between gases, particles, and clouds at the Marambio station on the Antarctic peninsula, which is located near a colony of 60,000 Adelie penguins. The data was drawn between January and March 2023.

As mentioned before, the penguins in question leave a lot of poop in their wake, and it emits ammonia, a gas that combines with other gases, increasing aerosols and drawing in water vapor. This, in turn, creates clouds and can impact surface radiation balance, precipitation, and weather, and, by extension, the climate. The researchers say the impact is especially stark in Antarctica, which has less human activity and less vegetation.

When the researchers measured gas levels at the Marambio station, they found that ammonia mixing ratios went up significantly when winds came from the direction of the penguin colony, which was true even after they’d left for their annual migration. Over a month later, the levels were still elevated when winds came from their breeding site, meaning that the soil their poop had fertilized still emitted ammonia when they were no longer there.

This helps illustrate how penguin colonies are a significant source of gaseous emissions in coastal Antarctica, more so than the Southern Ocean. Merely by eating and digesting, penguins can help provide a barrier of clouds over Antarctica, which could help reduce surface temperature and keep more sea ice from melting. This is an important task for these little birds, as the climate in the area is changing rapidly and influencing the rest of the planet.

Matthew Boyer, first author and atmospheric scientist at the University of Helsinki, says, “The Antarctic environment and changes to the Antarctic environment has a global impact…

“It's quite interesting how such a small thing that you would never necessarily think about can have an impact on something else that's much bigger than itself.”