When the wind blew from the direction of the colony, ammonia levels spiked, sometimes reaching 1,000 times above normal levels. In February, the penguins left the area to continue their annual migration, but the guano they left behind kept ammonia levels up to 100 times higher than normal for over a month.

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline The weird way that penguin poop might be cooling Antarctica on May 22, 2025. Alaska, Hawaii and areas along the mainland West Coast would be at risk if an earthquake erupts along the Cascadia subduction zone within the next 50 years.