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Polar bear habitat update early spring 2018
Spring in the Arctic is April-June (Pilfold et al. 2015). As late April is the peak of this critical spring feeding period for most polar bear populations, this is when sea ice conditions are also...
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Low Bering Sea ice mostly due to south winds, no data on an impact for polar...
Sea ice in the Bering Sea this winter was said to be the lowest since the 1850s, largely driven by persistent winds from the south rather than the usual north winds although warm Pacific water was a...
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Polynya refresher: open water in spring is due to winds & currents, not ice melt
Arctic sea ice begins to open up in spring at predictable locations due to currents and prevailing winds and this was as true in the 1970s as it is today. Polynyas and widening shore leads that most...
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W Hudson Bay freeze-up earlier than average for 2nd year in a row, polar bear...
This is the second year in a row that freeze-up of Western Hudson Bay ice has come earlier than average. Movement of tagged bears and reports by folks on the ground in WH show some polar bears are...
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Svalbard polar bears doing fine with much less sea ice say Norwegian biologists
“…despite the loss of good denning areas and a shrinking habitat for hunting, Svalbard’s bears seem to be doing fine.…The sea ice season is now several months shorter, and the ice edge typically lies...
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Spring feeding season almost over for polar bears & sea ice becomes less...
Here are ice conditions at the end of May, which signals the near-end of the critical spring feeding period for polar bears. This is because young-of-the-year seals take to the water to feed...
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Shorefast ice formation and the fall feeding season for polar bears
What may seem like a silly question is actually fundamental to polar bear survival: in the fall, why do Western Hudson Bay bears correctly expect to find seals in the new ice that forms offshore? Why...
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Spring polynyas in the Arctic then and now as feeding areas for hungry polar...
Patches of open water in the Arctic that develop in the spring, including polynyas and widening shore leads, are largely due to the actions of wind and currents on mobile pack ice rather than ice...
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Sea ice average for March is the metric used to compare to previous winters
The average sea ice cover at the end of March is the metric used to compare ‘winter’ ice to previous years or decades, not the single-day date of ‘most’ ice. This year, March ended with 14.6 mkm2 of...
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Winter sea ice habitat for polar bears still abundant enough to sustain a...
In contrast to summer sea ice, winter ice in the Arctic was again abundant this year. The slight decline since 1979 has so far been no cause for concern to polar bears, who are thriving. According to...
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