Changing wind patterns linked to climate change are disrupting the food chain in Antarctica and may lead to further increases in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, according to two new reports in the journal Science. The disturbing news adds to the growing list of evidence showing that the effects of climate change are already upon us, not some far-off hypothesis.  What’s even more upsetting is the ripple effects that the altered wind patterns are creating:

“We’re showing for the first time that there is an ongoing change on phytoplankton concentration and composition along the western shelf of the Antarctic Peninsula that is associated with a long-term climate modification. These phytoplankton changes may explain in part the observed decline of some penguin populations,” Martin Montes-Hugo, a marine scientist at Rutgers University, said in a statement.

The second report explains that the new wind patterns could result in more upwelling of deep water in the region, which would release carbon dioxide to the surface and thereby increase global warming further.

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Photo:  Christian Revival Network’s flickr photostream (creative commons)