{"id":261014,"date":"2023-06-07T11:13:10","date_gmt":"2023-06-07T09:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=261014"},"modified":"2023-06-07T11:13:21","modified_gmt":"2023-06-07T09:13:21","slug":"polar-bear-sea-ice-habitat-near-the-end-of-arctic-spring-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=261014","title":{"rendered":"Polar bear sea ice habitat near the end of Arctic spring 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Polar Bear walking along the shores of Hudson Bay. Canada<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From polarbearscience<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arctic sea ice is beginning to melt and the end of spring is drawing near.\u00a0Mating season<\/a>\u00a0is over for polar bears as is the gorging on young seals in most regions as weaned pups head into open water to feed for themselves. Only\u00a0predator-savvy adult and subadult seals<\/a>\u00a0remain on the ice while they moult a new hair coat, so\u00a0successful hunts<\/a>\u00a0by most polar bears will become more and more uncommon (e.g. Obbard et al. 2016).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Arctic sea ice overall<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sea ice thickness<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where red bits are\u00a05m thick<\/strong>\u00a0and even the green\/yellow is 2.5-3.5m. This thick ice is not likely to melt over the summer but it can get broken up and flushed out of the Arctic by winds and currents, where it will melt in warmer waters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The graph below shows that sea ice extent for May 2023,\u00a0according to NSIDC<\/a>\u00a0compared to previous years, is only slightly less than it was in 1989 and 1995:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sea ice Canada<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Open water leads and polynyas in the sea ice, which are clearly visible in the ice chart below, are now important areas for polar bears to attempt to hunt, because these highly productive areas attract seals (Stirling et al. 1981).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Barents and Kara Seas<\/strong>, East Greenland<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Svalbard subregion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ice extent around Svalbard is declining, as it does every year about this time:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

However, there is still abundant ice in the eastern and northern regions around Svalbard for polar bears to continue hunting attempts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

References<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Obbard, M.E., Cattet, M.R.I., Howe, E.J., Middel, K.R., Newton, E.J., Kolenosky, G.B., Abraham, K.F. and Greenwood, C.J. 2016.<\/strong> Trends in body condition in polar bears (Ursus maritimus<\/em>) from the Southern Hudson Bay subpopulation in relation to changes in sea ice. Arctic Science <\/em>2:15-32. 10.1139\/AS-2015-0027 http:\/\/www.nrcresearchpress.com\/doi\/abs\/10.1139\/AS-2015-0027#.VvFtlXpUq50<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stirling, I, Cleator, H. and Smith, T.G. 1981.<\/strong> Marine mammals. In: Polynyas in the Canadian Arctic, Stirling, I. and Cleator, H. (eds), pg. 45-58. Canadian Wildlife Service Occasional Paper<\/em> No. 45. Ottawa. Pdf of pertinent excerpts from the Stirling and Cleator volume here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arctic sea ice is beginning to melt and the end of spring is drawing near.\u00a0Mating season\u00a0is over for polar bears as is the gorging on young seals in most regions as weaned pups head into open water to feed for themselves. Only\u00a0predator-savvy adult and subadult seals\u00a0remain on the ice while they moult a new hair coat, so\u00a0successful hunts\u00a0by most polar bears will become more and more uncommon (e.g. Obbard et al. 2016).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":261032,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691818990,691818745],"class_list":["post-261014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-arctic-sea-ice","tag-polar-bear","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/00-polar-bear-174.jpeg?fit=1200%2C806&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-15TU","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":280246,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=280246","url_meta":{"origin":261014,"position":0},"title":"Polar Bear and Seal Biology Exposes the Utter Stupidity of Climate Alarmist Environmentalists!","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"09\/24\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"As shown here, any critical thinking person knows the alarmist polar bear narratives are just totally false, ignorant and manipulative fear mongering. It is not ice that bears depend on, but ringed seals. An understanding of seal biology reveals that less ice is good and more ice is bad for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Arctic Ocean\"","block_context":{"text":"Arctic Ocean","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=arctic-ocean"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/0F6pqrD8aAAIKDc6.jpeg?fit=1200%2C571&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/0F6pqrD8aAAIKDc6.jpeg?fit=1200%2C571&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/0F6pqrD8aAAIKDc6.jpeg?fit=1200%2C571&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/0F6pqrD8aAAIKDc6.jpeg?fit=1200%2C571&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/0F6pqrD8aAAIKDc6.jpeg?fit=1200%2C571&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":282357,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=282357","url_meta":{"origin":261014,"position":1},"title":"Feeding time for Russian polar bears as shorefast ice returns to Laptev Sea, ice-generator of the Arctic","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"10\/07\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Russia's stray polar bear taken back to the wild From polarbearscience Fall is the second-most important feeding season for polar bears after spring but it comes at different times for different subpopulations.\u00a0Sea ice formation\u00a0along shorelines attracts fish and seals and that means polar bears which spent the summer onshore will\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Laptev Sea\"","block_context":{"text":"Laptev Sea","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=laptev-sea"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/image-165.png?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/image-165.png?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/image-165.png?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/image-165.png?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/image-165.png?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":254176,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=254176","url_meta":{"origin":261014,"position":2},"title":"Earth Day sea ice habitat during critical spring season for Arctic seals, polar bears, and walrus","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"04\/22\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"This is the most important time of year for Arctic marine mammals that spend time above the ice: birthing,\u00a0breeding, and\u00a0feeding. And there is plenty of the right kind of ice available for those activities this year, as there was\u00a0two years ago\u00a0at the same time.","rel":"","context":"In \"Barents Sea ice\"","block_context":{"text":"Barents Sea ice","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=barents-sea-ice"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0Polar-bears.jpeg?fit=1200%2C762&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0Polar-bears.jpeg?fit=1200%2C762&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0Polar-bears.jpeg?fit=1200%2C762&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0Polar-bears.jpeg?fit=1200%2C762&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0Polar-bears.jpeg?fit=1200%2C762&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":417814,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=417814","url_meta":{"origin":261014,"position":3},"title":"Sea ice conditions continued to favour Arctic marine life in\u00a02025","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"12\/19\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Increased primary productivity\u00a0in the Arctic generated by reduced summer sea ice has continued into 2025, according to NOAA\u2019s annual\u00a0Arctic Report Card\u00a0published yesterday, which means Arctic seals and whales, walrus, and polar bears will continue to flourish.","rel":"","context":"In \"Arctic sea ice\"","block_context":{"text":"Arctic sea ice","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=arctic-sea-ice"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/00Screenshot-2025-12-19-144656.png?fit=1200%2C877&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/00Screenshot-2025-12-19-144656.png?fit=1200%2C877&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/00Screenshot-2025-12-19-144656.png?fit=1200%2C877&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/00Screenshot-2025-12-19-144656.png?fit=1200%2C877&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/00Screenshot-2025-12-19-144656.png?fit=1200%2C877&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":244331,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=244331","url_meta":{"origin":261014,"position":4},"title":"Low mid-winter polar bear habitat in Barents Sea spawns warnings of more human-bear conflicts","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"02\/19\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Any time there is a bit less sea ice than usual the catastrophists begin caterwauling but this time the rhetoric is a little different.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-444.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-444.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-444.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-444.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-444.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":268082,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=268082","url_meta":{"origin":261014,"position":5},"title":"More Barents Sea polar bear habitat at mid-July 2023 than in 2012 despite more atmospheric CO2","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"07\/18\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"More open water exposed to summer sunlight has meant more food for fish, an advantage that has bumped up the food chain to ensure more seals for polar bears the following spring. Fatter bears produce healthier cubs that are more likely to survive their first year of life.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-543.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-543.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-543.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-543.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121246920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=261014"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261014\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":261033,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261014\/revisions\/261033"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/261032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=261014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=261014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=261014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}