{"id":290645,"date":"2023-12-10T12:59:01","date_gmt":"2023-12-10T11:59:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=290645"},"modified":"2023-12-10T12:59:04","modified_gmt":"2023-12-10T11:59:04","slug":"despite-hand-wringing-about-churchill-polar-bears-this-year-2023-wasnt-their-worst-summer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=290645","title":{"rendered":"Despite hand-wringing about Churchill polar bears this year, 2023 wasn\u2019t their worst summer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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

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

For months, the media has been bleating about the poor polar bears of Churchill suffering from lack of sea ice blamed on human-caused climate change during the so-called\u00a0\u2018hottest year\u2019 on record<\/a>: in\u00a0April<\/a>,\u00a0July<\/a>,\u00a0August<\/a>,\u00a0November<\/a>, and\u00a0December<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

From a Churchill Wild<\/a> report on the condition of WH polar bears, January 2023<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, while breakup of sea ice on Hudson Bay was indeed early this year<\/a> and freeze-up came earlier than usual<\/a>, Western Hudson polar bears apparently spent only the fifth-longest time on land since 1979, according to a polar bear specialist. How is that even possible, given that sea ice conditions should be getting worse and worse as CO2 levels increase and average global temperatures rise? As I\u2019ve pointed out before<\/a>, it is apparent that Arctic sea ice is not closely coupled to CO2 levels (as the \u2018experts\u2019 claim), which makes me wonder if there is any ecologically-relevant correlation between CO2 and sea ice at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Money quote <\/strong>from Geoff York, from Polar Bears International: \u201cAs of Nov. 28 this year, the bears in western Hudson Bay had spent 164 days on shore, he said. That\u2019s tied for the fifth-longest amount of time the bears have spent off the ice since 1979<\/strong>.<\/em>\u201d CBC, 9 December 2023<\/a> [my bold]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hudson Bay sea ice & polar bears<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sea ice over Hudson Bay at 8 December 2023:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Locations of tagged polar bears at 8 December 2023 (those on land will be denning pregnant females), note that the bear in the south is on a patch of low-concentration ice (see chart above):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

For months, the media has been bleating about the poor polar bears of Churchill suffering from lack of sea ice blamed on human-caused climate change during the so-called\u00a0\u2018hottest year\u2019 on record: in\u00a0April,\u00a0July,\u00a0August,\u00a0November, and\u00a0December.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":290652,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","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_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"For months, the media has been bleating about the poor polar bears of Churchill suffering from lack of sea ice blamed on human-caused climate change during the so-called\u00a0\u2018hottest year\u2019 on record: in\u00a0April,\u00a0July,\u00a0August,\u00a0November, and\u00a0December.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"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":[691818233,691825190,691818056,691818076,691825191],"class_list":{"0":"post-290645","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-691818233","9":"tag-churchill-polar-bears","10":"tag-climate-change","11":"tag-co2","12":"tag-hudson-bay-sea-ice","14":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-201.png?fit=1600%2C1066&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1dBP","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":213219,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=213219","url_meta":{"origin":290645,"position":0},"title":"Churchill problem polar bear reports for early 2022 have no mention of fat bears or excess sea ice","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"12\/08\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The first few reports on\u00a0problem polar bear activity in Churchill\u00a0are in, posted early this week (two together), starting the last week of July (25-31). Shore of Wapusk National Park just south of Churchill, 5 August 2022, the back end of a fat bear. Funny how these reports\u00a0in recent years\u00a0(these included)\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/0CanadianPolarBearHabitat-1536x1024-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/0CanadianPolarBearHabitat-1536x1024-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/0CanadianPolarBearHabitat-1536x1024-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/0CanadianPolarBearHabitat-1536x1024-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/0CanadianPolarBearHabitat-1536x1024-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":209722,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=209722","url_meta":{"origin":290645,"position":1},"title":"New paper polar bears attracted to garbage dumps blames lack of sea ice without any evidence","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"22\/07\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"A paper published yesterday discusses polar bears that get into human garbage and cause other problems due to community attractants. Most of the incidents recounted and the issues they\u2019ve raised have been reported by the media and are ones I\u2019ve discussed here over the last few years in detail, including\u00a0here\u00a0and\u00a0here,\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/0garbage-bears-04-dump-at-churchill-2003_-dan-guravich_polar-bears-international_handout-via-reuters.jpg?fit=1200%2C816&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/0garbage-bears-04-dump-at-churchill-2003_-dan-guravich_polar-bears-international_handout-via-reuters.jpg?fit=1200%2C816&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/0garbage-bears-04-dump-at-churchill-2003_-dan-guravich_polar-bears-international_handout-via-reuters.jpg?fit=1200%2C816&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/0garbage-bears-04-dump-at-churchill-2003_-dan-guravich_polar-bears-international_handout-via-reuters.jpg?fit=1200%2C816&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/0garbage-bears-04-dump-at-churchill-2003_-dan-guravich_polar-bears-international_handout-via-reuters.jpg?fit=1200%2C816&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":285442,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=285442","url_meta":{"origin":290645,"position":2},"title":"Churchill so far has few problems with polar bears despite predictions of a record bad year","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"28\/10\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"A polar bear near Churchill, Manitoba, Canada Churchill is one of the few human settlements where polar bears can be observed in the wild. Frequently called \u201cLords of the Arctic\u201d, these animals are huge. Male polar bears can grow to more than 600 kg (1,320 lbs) and stand 3.05 metres\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Churchill\"","block_context":{"text":"Churchill","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=churchill"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/0308738.jpg?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/0308738.jpg?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/0308738.jpg?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/0308738.jpg?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/0308738.jpg?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":235109,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=235109","url_meta":{"origin":290645,"position":3},"title":"More BBC Polar Bear Lies Exposed","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"19\/12\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u2019ve a couple of points to add to Susan Crockford\u2019s earlier excellent take down of that BBC article:","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/0image_thumb1.png?fit=719%2C768&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/0image_thumb1.png?fit=719%2C768&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/0image_thumb1.png?fit=719%2C768&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/0image_thumb1.png?fit=719%2C768&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":224607,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=224607","url_meta":{"origin":290645,"position":4},"title":"Western Hudson Bay polar bears waiting for the sea ice to freeze as tourists flock to watch","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"19\/10\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Should only be a few weeks more until the ice forms along the western shore of Hudson Bay, it\u2019s already been snowing.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-912.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-912.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-912.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-912.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-912.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":288203,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=288203","url_meta":{"origin":290645,"position":5},"title":"Polar bear sea ice habitat update at 15 November & problem bears in Western Hudson Bay","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"20\/11\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"From polarbearscience Abundant polar bear habitat this fall across the Arctic so far, with only Hudson Bay sea ice formation a bit behind schedule. However, Churchill has not seen the\u00a0anticipated spike\u00a0in\u00a0problem bear\u00a0reports, given the vocal pronouncement by\u00a0polar bear specialists\u00a0that it should be experiencing more and more problems with bears when\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Churchill\"","block_context":{"text":"Churchill","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=churchill"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/R.jpg?fit=1200%2C873&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/R.jpg?fit=1200%2C873&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/R.jpg?fit=1200%2C873&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/R.jpg?fit=1200%2C873&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/R.jpg?fit=1200%2C873&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290645","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=290645"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290645\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":290654,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290645\/revisions\/290654"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/290652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=290645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=290645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=290645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}