The International Polar Foundation's website interviewed Meredith Hooper when the UK edition of Ferocious Summer was released. Hooper explains, "By extraordinary chance, I spent four months researching at Palmer in the summer of 2001-2002 when climate change really hit. We didn't really understand what was happening. Animals, in particular the Adelies, really suffered. In many ways, I got much more than what I bargained for."

Hooper continues, "So to answer your question, my story -- the book's narrative spine -- turned into an eye-witness account, an unfolding of the experience, and impact, of climate change, in a specific place: news from the front-line. The story I was telling began widening and deepening. Palmer's Adelies, the 'ferocious summer' as Bill called it, other events across the Peninsula, were all key parts of the jigsaw of understanding climate change in this crucial part of the planet. Pieces began clattering into place. But they took time. Scientists working in a number of key disciplines had to assess their research, publish papers, push data into models. Understanding the ferocious summer required a longer chronology, and the story has only now, five years later, reached its natural conclusion. This is the book I ended up writing."

Historian and writer Meredith Hooper describes the summer she spent in Antarctica in 2001-02, studying Adélie penguins. The experience led her to write the forthcoming title by Greystone Books, The Ferocious Summer. Here, she speaks with BBC World Service's Outlook Programme. Dur. 9 min.