January is the first month of the Arctic winter, the season when most polar bears really struggle to find enough to eat.
Here is what the sea ice looked like around the Arctic at the end of this month.
Compare to last year:
And the year before that (2017):
A closer look at conditions in Canada and Alaska:
Compared to last year:
And the year before that (2017), where there was much less ice in the Gulf of St. Lawrence:
In contrast, there has recently been lots of ice compared to conditions in eastern Canada on 31 Jan 2010:
Further east, north of Norway, Barents Sea ice has expanded remarkably over the last few months:
Here is what polar bear specialist Andrew Derocher had to say about the state of the ice in the Barents Sea:
Derocher is continuing to pretend that the small area of southeastern Svalbard where he once did some field work is critical denning habitat for Barents Sea bears and that he doesn’t know where alternative sites are available.
He sang the same song last year about this time. I’ve fixed his sea ice chart for him, see below.
I know he knows that Franz Josef Land is a denning refugium because he co-authored one of the papers that points out the known alternative denning areas in Franz Josef Land and the Barents Sea pack ice around it (Andersen et al. 2012, see also Aars 2015; Aars 2018; Aars et al. 2017; Andersen and Aars 2016; Wiig 1998).
Polar bear specialist Jon Aars found three times as many polar bears in the Russian portion of the Barents Sea as around Svalbard in 2004 (Aars et al. 2009), which means that denning in Svalbard is much less important to the entire population than Derocher implies.
Recent evidence that shows Svalbard bears are thriving despite much less ice than existed in the 1980s (Aars 2018) make Derocher and his message of doom look foolish and unprofessional.
Read more at Polar Bear Science
Thanks Susan…………..
Please make sure that your studies go to the Conservative Party so that they can use your data to expose the fraudulent claims of the Liberals, NDP, and Greens, Andrew Scheer in**@**********ve.ca
“I know he knows that Franz Josef Land is a denning refugium because he co-authored one of the papers that points out the known alternative denning areas in Franz Josef Land and the Barents Sea pack ice around it (Andersen et al. 2012, see also Aars 2015; Aars 2018; Aars et al. 2017; Andersen and Aars 2016; Wiig 1998).”
“Recent evidence that shows Svalbard bears are thriving despite much less ice than existed in the 1980s (Aars 2018) make Derocher and his message of doom look foolish and unprofessional.”
Take control of the conversation and make them defend their lies. Catch them in a lie then say it like it is………… Recent evidence shows Svalbard bears are thriving despite much less ice than existed in the 1980s (Aars 2018), exposing Derocher’s messages of doom as DELIBERATE BALD FACE LIES.
Unfortunately, the means of exposing the lies are denied. The so-called ‘main stream media’ and professional ‘peer-reviewed’ journals won’t publish anything that goes against their editorial policy, 97% of the time…..
Yes that Polar Vortex is nothing new, when I was growing up in the ’70’s they called it the Polar Express, or Siberian Front! Same thing, but Polar Vortex sounds scarier!
It all proves AGW = Al Gore’s Wrong and oops, Michael Mann-Made-Up Climates’ Hockey Stick is upside down???
Polar Bear said THESE GREENPEACE ACTVISTS TASTE LIKE CHICKEN
Polar bears have lost their gig as climate change victims.
Save the seals!