Plight of the Polar Bears...Warming in the Actic,
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The Climate Summit in Copenhagen Must Be Cancelled!
Doubled? Thats it? I thought the population was up five fold? From about 5,000
individuals to 25,000+ currently in 19 seperate populations...where 17/19 have
increased in size (numbers) and 2/19 haven't...:-?
Doubled? Thats it? I thought the population was up five fold? From about 5,000
individuals to 25,000+ currently in 19 seperate populations...where 17/19 have
increased in size (numbers) and 2/19 haven't...:-?
The Climate Summit in Copenhagen Must Be Cancelled!
I'm only able to throw out these numbers above for the following reason....
I was listening to this Dr. Mitchell Taylor on the radio yesterday. He seems to
know his stuff (about Polar bears, anyway) as he's spent the last 30 years
studying them. He's a Polar Bear Biologist with the Dept. of the Environment
for the Government of Nunavut, Igloolik, Nunavut, Canada.
I'm only able to throw out these numbers above for the following reason....
I was listening to this Dr. Mitchell Taylor on the radio yesterday. He seems to
know his stuff (about Polar bears, anyway) as he's spent the last 30 years
studying them. He's a Polar Bear Biologist with the Dept. of the Environment
for the Government of Nunavut, Igloolik, Nunavut, Canada.
The thing about polar bears is really uncertain. The multi-year ice is disappearing fast, but it's not the ice that the bears hunt on, because the seals can't build dens in that thick ice. The polar bears hunt on the one-year ice that folds up with shifting winds and currents, and catches snow making drifts. There will always be one year ice. When people say ice free Arctic, that means no more multi-year sea ice. The one year old ice will always be there, except for extreme climate change where the temperature is above 0 year round.
The part that get's uncertain is how the population will be affected by shorter hunting seasons. When the multi-year ice disappears (probably around 2020), the Arctic waters are going to warm faster, accelerating the warming in the Arctic which is already 3 times the global rate. So the bears will have some ice, but not for long. I think what's likely to happen is that they become a nuisance species, instead of the apex predator. What that means for the Arctic is uncertain.
The part that get's uncertain is how the population will be affected by shorter hunting seasons. When the multi-year ice disappears (probably around 2020), the Arctic waters are going to warm faster, accelerating the warming in the Arctic which is already 3 times the global rate. So the bears will have some ice, but not for long. I think what's likely to happen is that they become a nuisance species, instead of the apex predator. What that means for the Arctic is uncertain.
The Climate Summit in Copenhagen Must Be Cancelled!
Please excuse the Monckton-ish presentation & bumper music....as it's the
contents of the presentation by Mitchell Taylor that's the interesting part, and
not who put the video together....(pretty poor audio quality too, I guess)....
YouTube - Polar Bears & Global Warming - Dr Mitch Taylor
Please excuse the Monckton-ish presentation & bumper music....as it's the
contents of the presentation by Mitchell Taylor that's the interesting part, and
not who put the video together....(pretty poor audio quality too, I guess)....
YouTube - Polar Bears & Global Warming - Dr Mitch Taylor
I met him and had dinner with him at camp once,he would make his rounds and remote camps were a good place for a hot meal.
He's very respected for his work up there.
The Climate Summit in Copenhagen Must Be Cancelled!
With warming, the Polar bear population that has increased in the last several
decades from about 5,000 to about 24,500 may drop in the decades to come
to about 17,500 or so. That's what I got out of that video for population numbers.
Land critters (as a food source) aren't as calorie rich as seals, so a decrease
in physical size isn't really too surprising if that's the case here and not a matter
of increased competition due to the increased population of the Polar bears
themselves. Disease wasn't covered in the above video or the discussion
yesterday on the radio, so I'm out of comments in this area.
The Bears may have to adapt to less Seals and other aquatic food sources to
more terrestrial sources like berries and critters on the hoof like they've done
at other points in their existence when times where warmer than they are now.
Shorter Seal hunting seasons on the ice but longer hunting & foraging seasons
off the ice like other interglacial warm periods.
With warming, the Polar bear population that has increased in the last several
decades from about 5,000 to about 24,500 may drop in the decades to come
to about 17,500 or so. That's what I got out of that video for population numbers.
Land critters (as a food source) aren't as calorie rich as seals, so a decrease
in physical size isn't really too surprising if that's the case here and not a matter
of increased competition due to the increased population of the Polar bears
themselves. Disease wasn't covered in the above video or the discussion
yesterday on the radio, so I'm out of comments in this area.
The Bears may have to adapt to less Seals and other aquatic food sources to
more terrestrial sources like berries and critters on the hoof like they've done
at other points in their existence when times where warmer than they are now.
Shorter Seal hunting seasons on the ice but longer hunting & foraging seasons
off the ice like other interglacial warm periods.
The ice on hudsons bay melts every year,I think the most studied polars are just north of Churchill.
I dont know if thats the biggest concentration of polar bears but about the only change anyone in the know see's is when the ice melts earlier then usuall,then they migrate up the shores of the Hudson earlier then usuall.They also go inland more then usuall,food is not scarce for them,dead beluga's and seals wash up onshore all the time.
http://forums.canadiancontent.net/C...ses a Greenpeace-campaigner on global warming Lets see where you get your science from Tonnington. How about some links to that sea ice information you're pressing on us dullards.
I really have no idea what he's talking about,in june or near there the polars migrate north up the hudsons bay or at least the ones near Churchill do.Thats when the ice melts as it does every year.They follow the food source weather it's seals,Beluga's or walrus.They also have the uncanny ability to know when the killer whales come through feeding on the belugas,thats when all the seals come ashore and it's a smorg for polars.
Bears are highly adaptable animals,a weeks earlier melt then last year isnt going to be a big deal for them,they dont care and it sure isnt hurting the population any as the numbers show.
I hate it when people try and use the polar bears as a reason to push their climate change agenda.
Maybe pick some micro organisms which would be a far more telling picture of any change in the ecosystem.
But then they dont sell as well as a pic of a polar supposedly stranded on an ice floe.:roll:
Ok.
Another image of the same thing:
Animation of the yearly changes in ice age:
Ice thickness measured from the ICESat satellite:
from this study: Thinning and volume loss of the Arctic Ocean sea ice cover: 2003–2008
Arctic yearly minimum ice extent
By all measures, Arctic ice is declining. In age, in it's extent, in it's thickness.
Another image of the same thing:
Animation of the yearly changes in ice age:
Ice thickness measured from the ICESat satellite:
from this study: Thinning and volume loss of the Arctic Ocean sea ice cover: 2003–2008
Arctic yearly minimum ice extent
By all measures, Arctic ice is declining. In age, in it's extent, in it's thickness.
Sea ice at the tip of hudsons bay(polar country) melts at the end of june and refreezes at the end of september like clockwork.
Post all the graphs you want,thing is another ice age is coming like the last ones and there isnt a damn thing you can do about it.
It's all about money,nothing more,nothing less,just like kyoto was.
Post all the graphs you want,thing is another ice age is coming like the last ones and there isnt a damn thing you can do about it.
It's all about money,nothing more,nothing less,just like kyoto was.
I'm not. I don't need to show anyone pictures of bears on icebergs to discuss climate change. In fact if you read what I said, you'd see that I didn't even suggest that the polar bears are facing extinction, like many others do.
The thing is,peeps eat that iconic stranded polar bear picture up even though most dont have a clue about the arctic,they use it to fuel their agenda which is allmost all against big oil or the "man" and it deters from the real problems like keeping our supply of fresh water uncontaminated or keeping our soils from getting poisoned.
Anyone who thinks they can stave off the next ice age with carbon credits really has no clue.
Anyone who thinks they can stop climate change by throwing money at it is on the same Ship....
Absolutely. You can't throw money around willie nillie, it has to be targeted at projects which work! :lol:
Your kidding right?
You thing the climate has all of a sudden stabilized into one pattern?
Same thing every year?
Sorry but mother nature doesnt work that way,she will balance thing's out like allways and as past sediments have shown,**** happens,another ice age is inevitable,palm trees will be growing in the arctic again after that.
No matter what happens, it's going to be bad.I might add that although polar bear numbers are up, their disease rate is also up, and their size is down. Basically, what we have engineered is a large population of predators into smaller, diseased, partial scavengers. I feel really proud.