The only Penguins in the Northern HemisphereWe usually associate penguins with the lower latitudes i

The only Penguins in the Northern HemisphereWe usually associate penguins with the lower latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere or the cold expanse of Antarctica. But here are penguins that thrive in the Galapagos Islands which extend on both sides of the equator. These tiny little archipelago of volcanic islands (situated west of Ecuador in South America) rose from the sea floor few millions of years ago and now is the host of a remarkable biological system. So how do these cold water birds find a home along the equator?The largest island in the archipelago is the Isabela and this literally forms a wall in the ocean. The dimensions of this wall is the same as the ‘equatorial undercurrent’ that flows from Papau New Guinea in the west to South America in the east which is in the opposite direction of the trade winds and the surface current (blows east to west). This 8,000 mile equatorial undercurrent is a fast flowing cold current that flows along depths of 150-650 feet and carries 10 billion gallons of cold water at almost 5 kilometers an hour. Once this meets the sea walls of the Galapagos – some water makes its way around the islands while some nutrient rich cold water rises up to the surface.Once sunlight shines on the nutrient rich waters, it fuels photosynthesis and this generates abundant volumes of phytoplankton. Studies have shown that most of the Galapagos Penguins live along the western shores of these islands where there is strong upwelling of the equatorial undercurrent and the temperatures are cooler than the rest of the islands.NateImage Credits: Perl Apex http://bit.ly/1R7F6c2Source: http://1.usa.gov/1Tj3Pdp -- source link

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