{"id":416591,"date":"2025-12-08T09:11:51","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T08:11:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=416591"},"modified":"2025-12-08T09:11:53","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T08:11:53","slug":"polar-bears-and-arctic-sea-ice-status","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=416591","title":{"rendered":"Polar bears and Arctic Sea ice\u00a0status"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Positive news on the Arctic front as far as polar bears are concerned so far this year, with no reports of dead or dying bears, or of horrific attacks on humans that I\u2019ve heard about. Not much to talk about but here\u2019s what I\u2019ve found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Sea ice in Hudson Bay is forming rapidly while\u00a0according to NSIDC<\/a>, the Arctic Basin is filled with ice. Ice has also moved well into the Bering Sea, the Barents and Kara Seas, and Davis Strait. NSIDC say they have discontinued their monthly sea ice reports\u00a0due to lack of funding<\/a>, although under the current federal government administration, such budget cuts were likely tied to their inability to consistently produce these reports without pushing a\u00a0human-caused climate change narrative<\/a>\u00a0of impending catastrophe.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Map<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

We\u2019ve heard nothing at all from the town of Churchill this year about how their season with polar bears went: they have not posted a single problem bear report on their website<\/a> for the first time in years. Too busy to bother with keeping people informed for their safety or so few issues it would be embarassing to report?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Literally the only mention I found of how Western Hudson Bay polar bears are doing relative to sea ice formation this fall came from a Facebook post by a tour company on 30 November 2025:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"A<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The photo of a cub mentioned in the post was this one:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

In Norway, biologists in charge of monitoring polar bear health finally updated their webpage at the end of September 2025<\/a>, where they stated [my bold]:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe population probably increased considerably during the years after hunting was banned in 1973, and new knowledge indicates that the population has not been reduced the last 10-15 years, in spite of a large reduction in available sea ice in the same period.<\/strong>\u201c<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below is the data they provided for the body condition (i.e. fatness) of adult males 1993-2025, which for some reason they don\u2019t reveal for adult females, even though we know that data is collected, as explained here<\/a> (with references) \u2013 perhaps because instead of no trend, the trend for female fatness increased and that this is why the prognosis for the population is positive<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Over in the Chukchi Sea, a similar admission that bears are doing well despite summer sea ice declines came in the form of a\u00a0paper published in 2024<\/a>\u00a0by Karyn Rode and colleagues [my highlights], pdf\u00a0here<\/a>, \u201cIdentifying indicators of polar bear population status\u201d:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Positive news on the Arctic front as far as polar bears are concerned so far this year, with no reports of dead or dying bears, or of horrific attacks on humans that I\u2019ve heard about. Not much to talk about but here\u2019s what I\u2019ve found.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":416602,"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":"","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":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvY2xpbWF0ZS1zY2llbmNlLnByZXNzXC93cC1jb250ZW50XC91cGxvYWRzXC8yMDI1XC8xMlwvT0lHLTIwMjMtMTAtMjNUMTMyMDM3Ljc3NS5qcGVnIiwidHh0IjoiUG9sYXIgYmVhcnMgYW5kIEFyY3RpYyBTZWEgaWNlXHUwMGEwc3RhdHVzIiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJoaWdod2F5IiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE1NTgxMjQ0OX0.xXNh4rH_cp4cg3Y7ylvXk_YsiuChm2tp8Ff_qM1a7zAMQ"},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691818990,691818251],"class_list":{"0":"post-416591","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-arctic-sea-ice","9":"tag-polar-bears","11":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/OIG-2023-10-23T132037.775.jpeg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1Knd","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":293140,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=293140","url_meta":{"origin":416591,"position":0},"title":"Polar bears and sea ice fail to implode in 2023 as predicted, with special thanks for your support","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"30\/12\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"As this year draws to a close, it is worth noting that over the last 12 months \u2014 and contrary to predictions and\u00a0headlines, including claims about \u201cthe warmest year ever\u201d \u2014 polar bears have not been reported\u00a0dying, starving, or eating each other\u00a0in large numbers, or\u00a0relentlessly attacking people.","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\/12\/0984835.jpg?fit=1200%2C748&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/0984835.jpg?fit=1200%2C748&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/0984835.jpg?fit=1200%2C748&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/0984835.jpg?fit=1200%2C748&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/0984835.jpg?fit=1200%2C748&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":417814,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=417814","url_meta":{"origin":416591,"position":1},"title":"Sea ice conditions continued to favour Arctic marine life in\u00a02025","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"19\/12\/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":293513,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=293513","url_meta":{"origin":416591,"position":2},"title":"The Narrative That Polar Bears Need Sea Ice To Catch Prey Has Collapsed As More Evidence Piles Up","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"02\/01\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Arctic regions with 6+ months of sea ice coverage today were ice-free nearly year-round 9,000 to 5,000 years ago (2\u00b0C warmer) and 130,000 to 115,000 years ago (7-8\u00b0C warmer). And yet polar bears survived these periods.","rel":"","context":"In \"Arctic\"","block_context":{"text":"Arctic","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=arctic"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/image-50.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/image-50.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/image-50.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/image-50.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":209722,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=209722","url_meta":{"origin":416591,"position":3},"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":424652,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=424652","url_meta":{"origin":416591,"position":4},"title":"Biologists allowed David Attenborough to tell BBC viewers that Barents Sea bears were dying of starvation in his 2011 Frozen Planet episode when they knew it wasn\u2019t\u00a0true","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"04\/02\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"In the climate change episode of his 2011 BBC\u00a0Frozen Planet\u00a0series \u2018On Thin Ice\u2019,\u00a0Sir David Attenborough told viewers\u00a0that polar bear mothers and cubs across the Arctic were starving because climate change was melting the sea ice, even as he sat beside a fat, healthy Barents Sea female.","rel":"","context":"In \"Barents 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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0AQPX2MEr9YPtb11H765CI7vgNYO0CYcbnDswwMFa-6yW8Igy_L6adc6KJwey6kU3gnlcbkEV9lzcAuDsq66u7rhPhK3262oli6ccoADjcqkgG0GGkGrS-JGYxvH2pH57-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C793&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0AQPX2MEr9YPtb11H765CI7vgNYO0CYcbnDswwMFa-6yW8Igy_L6adc6KJwey6kU3gnlcbkEV9lzcAuDsq66u7rhPhK3262oli6ccoADjcqkgG0GGkGrS-JGYxvH2pH57-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C793&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":325066,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=325066","url_meta":{"origin":416591,"position":5},"title":"Polar bears are going extinct? Actually, they\u2019re not! A new video worth watching and sharing","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"30\/04\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Great Barrier Reef specialist Peter Ridd has just published an excellent video about my work and the way I\u2019ve been treated by the scientific community just for pointing out that polar bear populations have failed to respond as predicted to the recent decline in Arctic sea ice.","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\/2024\/04\/image-540.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/image-540.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/image-540.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/image-540.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416591","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=416591"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416591\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":416603,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416591\/revisions\/416603"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/416602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=416591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=416591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=416591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}