Daily Archives: November 5, 2015

Who tagged the Beaufort Sea polar bear with the tight collar?

Posted on November 5, 2015 | Comments Off on Who tagged the Beaufort Sea polar bear with the tight collar?

I’ve updated my post from last week to reflect that an inquiry to USGS has generated a statement that the Beaufort Sea polar bear reported by CBC last week is NOT one of their bears. Apparently University of Alberta researchers were also tagging polar bears in the region.

polar-bear-radio-collar_CBC Oct 28 2015

See details in the updated post here.

Kaktovik, where the bear was photographed, is not too far from the Canadian border of the Southern Beaufort Sea subpopulation, see USGS tracking map below.

Original caption: "Movements of 3 satellite-tagged polar bears for the month of October, 2015. Polar bears were tagged in 2014 and 2015 on the spring-time sea ice of the southern Beaufort Sea. All 3 of these bears have satellite collar transmitters. Polar bear satellite telemetry data are shown with AMSR2 remotely-sensed ice coverage for 31 October, 2015." Click to enlarge.

Original caption: “Movements of 3 satellite-tagged polar bears for the month of October, 2015. Polar bears were tagged in 2014 and 2015 on the spring-time sea ice of the southern Beaufort Sea. All 3 of these bears have satellite collar transmitters. Polar bear satellite telemetry data are shown with AMSR2 remotely-sensed ice coverage for 31 October, 2015.” Click to enlarge.

How long is it going to take for the people responsible to own up to this situation – and more importantly, remove the tight collar from the bear?

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Posted in Conservation Status, Life History

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Hudson Bay freeze-up moving faster than recent years, WHB polar bear habitat imminent

Posted on November 5, 2015 | Comments Off on Hudson Bay freeze-up moving faster than recent years, WHB polar bear habitat imminent

There may not be ice for Western Hudson Bay polar bears to walk on yet but there is still more ice forming along the northwest shore of the bay than last year at this time or even the year before. The Canadian Ice Service (CIS) map for 5 November shows this early formation.

Canadian Arctic Nov 5 2015_CIS

What’s present is mostly grey ice defined by CIS as:

“Young ice 10-15 cm thick, less elastic than nilas [a kind of new ice] and breaks on swell. It usually rafts under pressure.”

Polar bears generally need ice about 30 cm thick to support their weight, which could take a day or two – or a week or two, depending on the weather in northwestern Hudson Bay. For Churchill, along the central coast of western Hudson Bay, ice thick enough for walking will not likely be far behind, given the long-range forecast of freezing weather. In recent years, most Churchill polar bears have left the ice by around 20 November. More maps and graphs for this week below.
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Posted in Sea ice habitat

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