This is a pic from a couple years ago at an Emperor rookery just north of Royds when the sea ice actually thawed. In case you haven't heard, the sea ice around Ross Island hasn't thawed since iceberg B15 floated into the channel connected this area of the sound with the southern pacific. And just in case you haven't hear of iceberg B15, its this small chuck of frozen water roughly the size of Jamaica that fell off the Antarctic ice shelf a couple yrs ago. Due to the unfortunate position of B15, penguin colonies have a tougher time getting to krill and thus the rookery populations are down by anywhere from 50-80%. McMurdo population could be in jepordy if it weren't for the Russian ice breaker bailing us out this season. Oh yea, did you hear about that ...the Russian's are bailing us out. That one probably didn't make headlines back in the states.