Polar bear habitat is more extensive in most areas of the Arctic than in previous years – Increased by that?
Dr. Susan Crockford
Mid-November is halfway through arctic autumn (October to December) and the polar bear’s habitat is slowly expanding. Here’s a look at fall conditions compared to previous years, so you can see where bears are likely to still come ashore and go vegan (i.e. Hudson Bay and the southern Foxe basin) and where others may be. continued to feed.
Sea ice conditions at 12 November 2021
Polite NSIDC Masie
The state of sea ice returned in 2012
In particular, compare the conditions in Chukchi Sea (between Alaska and Russia), Barents Sea (northern Norway) and Hudson Bay over the past decade: you’ll notice more ice in the Chukchi Sea and Barents Sea this year and slightly less in the Canadian Arctic west and Hudson Bay than most another year.
The chart below is the only one I have for November 12, 2012, following the lowest September minimum since 1979 and spooking climate scientists. There is actually some ice along the west coast of Hudson Bay that this view doesn’t show and the ice is clear in James Bay and St. Lawrence is the ‘artifact’ generated by this particular NSIDC satellite algorithm (see the following Canadian graph):
Conclusion
Autumn is second important feeding period for polar bears. Given that global polar bear populations have remained stable or somewhat increased since 2012, depending on What numbers do you believe?, and the body condition and reproductive indicators in most areas show thriving populations, I see no evidence that the sea level decline over the past 10 years has contributed to the ‘Emergency case’ for the survival of polar bears.
In other words, although sea ice in the Arctic fell to a very low level in mid- to late-September for most of the year this decade, sea ice expanded significantly over the following two months as it consistently did not cause damage. have any obvious negative effects on polar bears.