Wildlife in Antarctica Are Getting Sunburnt — And It Sends a Serious Warning Message to Humans

Sun, Earth’s brightest star, is akin to God that sustains the life on Earth. If the Sun was to disappear, this blue-green ball would be blotted out in a shadowy haze and life would fall asleep under the blanket of frozen silence. But even with this bounteous supply of light energy, the Sun has a dark side too. The excited atoms broiling in its core contaminate this pure light energy by emitting ultraviolet (UV) radiation, which is lethal when absorbed in excessive quantities. Thankfully, Earth has its own sunscreen – the ozone layer. While ozone sheaths the rest of the planet from UV rays, Antarctica in particular has been displaying signs of vulnerability, especially its wildlife.

In a study published in Global Change Biology, researchers shared that the harmful UV rays could potentially cause sunburn in Antarctic animals as the ozone layer above it continues to decline due to an influx of chlorine particles. The ozone layer is “a thin blanket in the stratosphere made of molecules with three oxygen atoms. It absorbs harmful UVB light from the sun, which can cause cancer and eye damage in humans,” according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Since the past few decades, the ozone layer has been declining due to excess emission of anthropogenic gases, most commonly released by solvents, spray aerosols, refrigerators, and air-conditioners. In Antarctica, this thinning layer has formed a hole that keeps on opening and closing according to the seasons.

From previous research, it was known that the hole opened up mainly between September and October when the entire continent was frozen and the wildlife remained dormant under the thick snow cover. In recent years, however, scientists have found that the hole persists till December, which is the beginning of the austral summer. Added to it, the cold climate of Antarctica acts as a catalyst for ozone depletion. As chlorine particles in the atmosphere stick to the ice crystals hanging in the air, they generate polar stratosphere clouds which keep on gobbling up the ozone little by little, as YouTuber Patrick Cullins explained in a video. Triggered further by climate change, the ozone hole above Antarctica has been eating away the protective layer more brutally than ever. 

As this vital planetary boundary disappears, the animals breathing below are battling against the deadly UV exposure. “Antarctica’s animals and plants are exposed to more than twice as much UV radiation as they were in the 1970s,” lead author, Sharon Robinson, said in a press release. Although no harmful effects have been observed till now, the UV could potentially be dangerous for animals like penguins and seals whose breeding season occurs at this time of the year, per BBC. The exposure could prove to be equally harmful to the plankton. To create their own sunscreens, they would use up the entire supply of their energy, thereby, running empty for other activities, such as feeding and breeding. "But probably the biggest risk to the Antarctic animals is eye damage,” Robinson told BBC.

“The extended UV radiation may not kill things, but we know that there's a cost to creating sun protection and that takes away from the other things the animals and plants are able to do,” Robinson explained. However, some animals like the Macaroni and rockhopper penguins have pigments like melanin that act as natural protectors against UV rays. Plus, Antarctic mosses also seem to produce their own “sunscreen compounds.”

The ozone layer, the protective barrier of gas, was first discovered in 1985. Scientists measured the amount of solar radiation reaching Earth to confirm its existence. But in recent years, the unprecedented Australian wildfires were accelerated by climate change. In 1987, a treaty called the “Montreal Agreement” was signed in which countries agreed to reduce their usage of ozone-depleting chemicals such as CFCs. But little did change, particularly Antarctica’s ozone hole. “The biggest thing we can do to help Antarctica is to act on climate change – reduce carbon emissions as quickly as possible so we have fewer bushfires and don't put additional pressure on ozone layer recovery,” Robinson concluded.