Download or read book The Ferocious Summer written by Meredith Hooper and published by Profile Books(GB). This book was released on 2008 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Synopsis Antarctica's capacity to create, store and disperse ice is critical to the way our planet functions. But along the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula there has been a 40 per cent decrease in the mean annual sea ice extent since 1979. The daily life of a few thousand Adelie penguins became critical evidence of real, incontrovertible climate change. Meredith Hooper worked with key scientists in bases, on ice breakers and in research vessels. Her story focuses on the work and ideas of individual scientists and on the local animals. In it she memorably brings an outsider's non-specialist awareness to the crucial understanding of what is happening, now, to the planet we share.