Extreme snowstorms lead to large-scale seabird breeding failures in Antarctica

Climate change increases the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events that negatively impact wildlife, from individuals to whole ecosystems¹. In polar environments, such events include heat waves², anomalous sea ice concentrations³ and storms⁴. Polar seabirds are adapted to withstand harsh conditions, and although extreme weather events affect their breeding success and other demographic rates, they are thought to affect only a part of the population. Complete breeding failure of an entire population due to extreme environmental conditions is rarely observed⁵. Here we report how exceptional storm activity in Dronning Maud Land (DML), Antarctica, in the austral summer of 2021/2022 caused almost complete and large-scale breeding failures of the area's three most common seabird species - Antarctic petrel (Thalassoica antarctica), Snow petrel (Pagodroma nivea) and South polar skua (Stercorarius maccormicki).