No early breakup of Hudson Bay sea ice again this year: there is still extensive thick first year ice over most of Hudson Bay and all female polar bears fitted with tracking collars in Western Hudson Bay are still on the ice:
W Hudson Bay polar bears still out on the ice that’s packed together by winds. AE Derocher, 12 June 2020
Breakup of Hudson Bay sea ice as it relates to polar bear movement to land has been about the same since 1999 (about 2 weeks earlier than in the 1980s) and this year is shaping up to be no different: there is still no declining trend in date of sea ice breakup in Western Hudson Bay despite repeated predictions of imminent doom. An especially ‘early’ breakup year would have bears ashore before 15 June. Last year (2019) the first WH bear onshore was caught on film 5 July and problem bears were not recorded onshore in Churchill until the 2nd week of July.
Sea ice in Canada including Hudson Bay
Sea ice in Hudson Bay by ice thickness
Sea ice by stage of development (week of 8 June 2020):
Last year at this time (week of 10 June 2019):
And in 2018 (week of 11 June 2018):
The Arctic picture
At 12 June 2020 (Day 164), sea ice over the entire Arctic looked like this:
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