"And the sheer size of what we were looking at took our breath away," said Dr Heather Lynch from Stony Brook University, New York.

　　“而我们所看到的庞大规模让我们屏息凝神，”纽约石溪大学的Heather Lynch博士说。

　　"We thought, ’Wow! If what we’re seeing is true, these are going to be some of the largest Adélie penguin colonies in the world, and it’s going to be well worth our while sending in an expedition to count them properly."

　　“我们当时想，’哇!如果我们看到的是真的，这将成为世界上最大的阿德利企鹅群，并且非常值得派出远征队进行正确计数。 ”

　　But, as the name implies, the Danger Islands are notoriously difficult to reach.

　　但正如名字所暗示的那样，险恶群岛是非常难以到达的。

　　Even in the austral summer, the ocean surrounding the archipelago is filled with the kind of thick sea-ice that ships try to avoid.

　　即使在南半球的夏季，群岛周围的海洋也充满了船只试图避免的那种厚厚的海冰。

　　However, in December 2015, the team did manage to get on the ground to begin its count. And one of the most effective techniques was to deploy drones, which flew above the birds to make large mosaics of their nesting sites.

　　然而，在2015年12月，一支队伍确实设法开始计数。而最有效的技术之一是部署无人机，它们飞过鸟类上方，对准它们的巢穴制作大型马赛克。

　　"The drone lets you fly in a grid over the island, taking pictures once per second. You can then stitch them together into a huge collage that shows the entire landmass in 2D and 3D," explained Prof Hanumant Singh from Northeastern University.

　　东北大学的Hanumant Singh教授解释说：“无人机可以让你在岛上飞行，每秒拍摄一次照片，然后将它们拼接成一张巨大的拼贴画，以2D和3D的形式显示整个地块。”