Adelie penguins on an iceberg off Brown Bluff on the Antarctic Peninsula.  

Ice chunks melt slowly in the cool summer sun on one of the South Shetland Islands.  

An expedition ship cruises through an iceberg seascape in the Weddell Sea.  

A chinstrap penguin watches visitors from a rocky promontory on Elephant Island.  

Although Antarctica is a land of perpetual ice and snow, in terms of precipitation it's the driest continent on earth.  

As with all penguins, Adelies are more at home in the water than on land.  

Remnants of early Antarctic exploration and fishing activity are often found along coastal areas.  

The Antarctic icescape changes quickly as ice sheets and icebergs shift, break apart, and travel constantly during the brief summer.  

Chinstrap penguins ignore visitors on the march between the sea and their nesting sites inland.  

Adelie penguins congregate on a calm afternoon at Brown Bluff on the Antarctic Peninsula.  

A lone Adelie penguin catches a ride on a slow-moving ice chunk in the Weddell Sea.