{"id":268082,"date":"2023-07-18T13:44:34","date_gmt":"2023-07-18T11:44:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=268082"},"modified":"2023-07-18T13:44:37","modified_gmt":"2023-07-18T11:44:37","slug":"more-barents-sea-polar-bear-habitat-at-mid-july-2023-than-in-2012-despite-more-atmospheric-co2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=268082","title":{"rendered":"More Barents Sea polar bear habitat at mid-July 2023 than in 2012 despite more atmospheric CO2"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Despite\u00a0more CO2 in the atmosphere<\/a>\u00a0(424 vs. 392, for June), there was more sea ice cover in the\u00a0Barents Sea<\/a>\u00a0at mid-July this year than there was in 2012.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

This region has seen\u00a0about 6 times the amount of summer sea ice loss<\/a>\u00a0as any other region of the Arctic (Regehr et al. 2016): Barents Sea bears now have a longer ice-free season than the famous Western Hudson Bay bears that\u00a0we hear so much about<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet contrary to predictions, which insisted that protracted poor ice conditions in summer would inevitably result in catastrophic rates of starvation and death (Amstrup et al. 2007; Crockford 2017, 2019), polar bears in the Svalbard region have so far\u00a0not had any documented any harm<\/a>\u00a0to their health or population size. In fact,\u00a0field data show bears in Svalbard are in better condition\u00a0<\/a>than they were in the late 1990s (Lippold et al. 2019), almost certainly due to the documented\u00a0increase in primary productivity<\/a>\u00a0that has resulted from longer ice-free summers since 2003 (Frey et al. 2022; Crockford 2023).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Longer ice-free summers = more food<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Barents Sea ice 2023<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Barents Sea ice 2012<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

In recent years, sea ice has generally come late or not at all to Svalbard in the fall and most pregnant female polar bears can no longer make their maternity dens on the eastern islands (see map below).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

However, there continues to be abundant denning habitat\u00a0and<\/em>\u00a0fall sea ice around the Franz Josef Islands in Russia by at least late November (see chart below), which is still within the boundaries of the Barents Sea subpopulation. Being innately flexible, most Barents Sea bears now give birth or feed over the winter in the far-eastern portion of their range (Crockford 2019), and return to the ice off Svalbard in spring to feed on newborn seals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

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

Amstrup, S.C., Marcot, B.G. & Douglas, D.C. 2007.<\/strong>\u00a0Forecasting the rangewide status of polar bears at selected times in the 21st century.<\/em>\u00a0US Geological Survey. Reston, VA. Pdf\u00a0here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crockford, S.J. 2017.<\/strong>\u00a0Testing the hypothesis that routine sea ice coverage of 3-5 mkm2 results in a greater than 30% decline in population size of polar bears (Ursus maritimus<\/em>).\u00a0PeerJ Preprints<\/em>\u00a019 January 2017. Doi: 10.7287\/peerj.preprints.2737v1 Open access.\u00a0https:\/\/peerj.com\/preprints\/2737\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crockford, S.J. 2019<\/strong>.\u00a0The Polar Bear Catastrophe That Never Happened<\/em>. Global Warming Policy Foundation, London. Available in\u00a0paperback<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0ebook<\/a>\u00a0formats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crockford, S.J. 2023.<\/strong>\u00a0The Polar Wildlife Report 2022. Global Warming Policy Foundation Briefing 63, London. pdf\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frey, K.E., Comiso, J.C., Cooper, L.W., et al. 2022.<\/strong>\u00a0Arctic Ocean primary productivity: the response of marine algae to climate warming and sea ice decline. In:\u00a02022 Arctic Report Card<\/em>, NOAA.\u00a0https:\/\/doi.org\/10.25923\/0je1-te61<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lippold, A., Bourgeon, S., Aars, J., et al. 2019.<\/strong>\u00a0Temporal trends of persistent organic pollutants in Barents Sea polar bears (Ursus maritimus<\/em>) in relation to changes in feeding habits and body condition.\u00a0Environmental Science and Technolog<\/em>y 53(2):984-995.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regehr, E.V., Laidre, K.L, Ak\u00e7akaya, H.R., et al. 2016.<\/strong>\u00a0Conservation status of polar bears (Ursus maritimus<\/em>) in relation to projected sea-ice declines.\u00a0Biology Letters<\/em>\u00a012: 20160556.\u00a0http:\/\/rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org\/content\/12\/12\/20160556<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":268095,"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":[],"class_list":["post-268082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-543.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-17JU","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":269601,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=269601","url_meta":{"origin":268082,"position":0},"title":"Polar bear habitat around Svalbard Norway above average despite high temps in N. Atlantic","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"07\/26\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Sea ice extent for Svalbard was\u00a0above average yesterday\u00a0and has been\u00a0since 17 July, despite\u00a0\u201crecord-breaking\u201d\u00a0sea surface temperatures in June.","rel":"","context":"In \"Barents Sea\"","block_context":{"text":"Barents Sea","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=barents-sea"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-798.png?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-798.png?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-798.png?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-798.png?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-798.png?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":423920,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=423920","url_meta":{"origin":268082,"position":1},"title":"Barents Sea polar bears thriving despite massive loss of sea ice, study\u00a0confirms","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"01\/30\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"A recently published study lead by Norwegian polar bear specialist Jon Aars found that both male and female polar bears were fatter and healthier after 1995 despite the greatest loss of sea ice of any Arctic region. However, no evidence was provided that a greater consumption of walrus and reindeer\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Arctic region\"","block_context":{"text":"Arctic region","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=arctic-region"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ChatGPT-Image-29.-Mai-2025-18_18_08.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ChatGPT-Image-29.-Mai-2025-18_18_08.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ChatGPT-Image-29.-Mai-2025-18_18_08.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ChatGPT-Image-29.-Mai-2025-18_18_08.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 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Sea bears\"","block_context":{"text":"Barents Sea bears","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=barents-sea-bears"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0AQPX2MEr9YPtb11H765CI7vgNYO0CYcbnDswwMFa-6yW8Igy_L6adc6KJwey6kU3gnlcbkEV9lzcAuDsq66u7rhPhK3262oli6ccoADjcqkgG0GGkGrS-JGYxvH2pH57-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C793&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0AQPX2MEr9YPtb11H765CI7vgNYO0CYcbnDswwMFa-6yW8Igy_L6adc6KJwey6kU3gnlcbkEV9lzcAuDsq66u7rhPhK3262oli6ccoADjcqkgG0GGkGrS-JGYxvH2pH57-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C793&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0AQPX2MEr9YPtb11H765CI7vgNYO0CYcbnDswwMFa-6yW8Igy_L6adc6KJwey6kU3gnlcbkEV9lzcAuDsq66u7rhPhK3262oli6ccoADjcqkgG0GGkGrS-JGYxvH2pH57-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C793&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, 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post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-888.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-888.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-888.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-888.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-888.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 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