Late freeze for W. Hudson Bay Polar Bear at odds with ice conditions elsewhere – Rise with that?
Dr. Susan Crockford
Sea ice is finally starting to form along the west coast of Hudson Bay, lagging far behind ice formation in the rest of the Arctic. Strangely, however, last year it was the opposite: some WH bears were able to start hunting as early as October 31 (see photo below) while ice formation lags behind. in the Chukchi and Barents Seas.
Status of sea ice on Hudson Bay 2021
The newly formed land ice (see below on November 24, 2021) quickly becomes rough and warped enough to hold the weight of a polar bear due to the compressive effects of winds, tides and wave. This means polar bears in western and southern Hudson Bay should return to seal hunting within the next few days (unless a southerly wind blows offshore, which sometimes happens at this early stage). :
Global Ice Range Year 2021
Yesterday there was very little ice on the west coast of Hudson Bay so it was barely visible on the NSIDC global chart but there was plenty of ice in the Chukchi and Bering seas and east of Svalbard in the Barents Sea:
Global Ice Range 2020
Last year was a completely different story: lots of ice in Hudson Bay but little in the Barents and Chukchi Seas:
Despite the slow start, it doesn’t look like 2021 will be the late freeze for polar bears in Hudson Bay in the West. in 2016, as far as we know there is no negative impact on the survival of polar bears.
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