Impacts Of Climate Change On The Arctic – Polar bears are an international symbol of Canada and a barometer for what’s happening in the climate-sensitive north. And according to wildlife experts who are now monitoring the effects of global warming in greater detail, giant bears aren’t as big as they used to be.

Polar bears are an international symbol of Canada and a barometer for what’s happening in the climate-sensitive north. And according to wildlife experts who are now monitoring the effects of global warming in greater detail, giant bears aren’t as big as they used to be.

Impacts Of Climate Change On The Arctic

The early breakup of sea ice and long periods of open water have hampered their search for food, mostly seals. Not enough snow means less time to hunt, less food – and the bears shrink.

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The decrease in size of the royal bear was established by field workers in the western Hudson Bay region recording their weight and length, then comparing it to measurements taken in 1980.

Female polar bears now weigh an average of 230 kg, or 507 pounds (they used to weigh 295 kg, or 650 pounds), and stand 220 cm, or about 7 ft-3 (they used to be 225 cm). Their skull size has also been reduced. Low birth weight can negatively affect the birth of healthy babies.

Some populations, such as those in western Hudson Bay and the southern Beaufort Sea, are already feeling the effects of a warming climate.

These findings are based on decades of research on their population ecology. Other populations may be similarly affected but “they don’t have enough long-term data to definitively address the question,” said Ian Stirling, an associate professor of biological sciences at the University of Alberta.

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“However, the trends being shown in western Hudson Bay and the southern Beaufort Sea give us a clear indication of what is happening across the Arctic,” Professor Stirling added. “In 100 to 150 years, without an end to global warming, polar bears will be going through a very difficult time.”

Currently, there are an estimated 20,000 to 25,000 polar bears worldwide, with 15,500 roaming Arctic Canada, searching for food.

Justina Ray, a senior scientist at the Wildlife Conservation Society and co-chair of the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, said, “Climate change is certainly a problem for northern animals whose habitat consists of sea ice. ” “The question is, how will the polar bear population respond in its distribution and are we able to project a decline within a certain time frame? Where we are now, we have to watch [the polar bear] very closely. “

In 2008, the committee designated the polar bear as a special concern and is required to review its status every decade under the federal Species at Risk Act. Environment Canada has legislated to review and offer funding for programs that study polar bears using sometimes traditional, sometimes alternative, methods.

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A hot spot for polar bear observation and research is the U of A’s Department of Biological Sciences. Andrew DeRocher is a professor and former chairman of the Polar Bear Specialist Group. He worked with Professor Stirling and co-authored a report called Effects of Climate Warming on Polar Bears: A Review of the Evidence.

According to one aspect of the report, Arctic Ocean ice cover has declined from about 75 percent in the mid-1980s to 45 percent in 2011. Changing conditions are changing the polar bear.

“Body condition reflects fat stores and these are the stores that bears rely on for energy when they are on the beach,” Professor DeRocher said. “The decline in body condition is a precursor to other changes in the population as the sea ice continues to change.”

Corey Davis is a faculty service officer at the U of A’s biosciences faculty who just received a federal grant to investigate his area of ​​expertise — hybrid bears, called grizzlies or growlers, that are a female polar bear and a male grizzly. are children of

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“[Grizzles] are moving further north where they can mingle with female polar bears and hunt for food,” Dr Davies said. “We want to see the frequency of hybrids.”

For his project, U of A PhD student René Malenfant helped design a special BeadChip to help analyze the “genetic population structure of endangered Canadian polar bears in the western Hudson Bay subpopulation.” .

Data is extracted from tissue samples when field workers apply ear tags for scientific reference. Mr Malinfant explained that the BeadChip could provide evidence to determine the population structure of polar bears as well as examine the “genetic architecture of body size variation in western Hudson Bay”.

While experts debate the short-term and long-term fate of the polar bear, at least one thing is agreed: bears need monitoring to maintain their exalted status as a unique representation of Canada. Need to protect our environment.

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Just last week, thousands of workers gathered and protested on Wall Street in New York. The sit-in was about the big business of making money at the expense of the planet. More than 100 protesters were arrested. There was a man dressed in a polar bear suit. Campus Questions is a series in which Daily Bruin readers and staff submit science-related questions for UCLA professors and experts to answer.

The study, published in November, concluded that between 2044 and 2067, the Arctic will become nearly ice-free, especially in the month of September.

The Arctic is melting faster than other parts of the planet, warming two to three times faster than the global rate, said Chad Thackeray, a researcher at the Institute for Environment and Sustainability at UCLA and first author of the study.

Thackeray said that an average of 4.5 million kilometers of ice was present in the Arctic over the past 10 years. That’s less than the more than 6 million kilometers of ice a decade ago, he said.

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Based on field consensus, the Arctic would be considered nearly ice-free when there is less than 1 million km of ice, Thackeray said.

He added that there is a big disagreement among current climate models on when the Arctic will become ice-free, and the main goal of his research was to reduce that disagreement.

The study examined the reliability of existing models that predict when the Arctic Ocean will become nearly ice-free, based on greenhouse gas emissions.

“I know that going into this our goal was to better understand why there is such a discrepancy, which extends from 2026 to 2132, and try to narrow it down, so that we are better prepared for future change,” Thackeray said. But can prepare,” said Thackeray.

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The study used a new finding on an annual process called the sea ice albedo feedback cycle to assess the reliability of existing models. The sea ice albedo feedback cycle is a process in which ice begins to melt, which in turn reduces the reflection of sunlight and thus melts more ice.

“Using different climate models, we found that sea ice melts each year in response to climate change and in similar areas in response to climate change,” Thackeray said. “The similarity between these two different time frames allows us to predict future climate-driven ice melt along with future sea ice albedo cycles.”

The researchers found that the sea ice albedo cycle behaves similarly in the Arctic each year, allowing them to predict future cycles with historical data, Thackeray said.

“We ran simulations of the last hundred years of melting, and used that to run simulations that predict future melting of ice due to climate change,” Thackeray said. “The group of models closest to the result is what we call the most reliable, and we found that the Arctic could be ice-free in September 2044.”

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“Melting ice will (allow) the use of the Arctic Ocean for transportation, which will potentially have negative impacts on marine life in the region,” Raphael said. “I don’t see any positive impact on marine ecosystems.”

Luxury travel company in Santa Monica needs 2 p/t employees for support positions. Computer skills a must, outgoing, friendly and sales oriented. Flexible student hours. $22.00 per hour starting commission potential after training. Send resume to [email protected]. A storm, smoke from forest fires and increasing rainfall are not the most common thoughts when thinking of the Arctic. Yet these are some of the climate-driven events included in the annual update detailing the transformation of a once reliably frozen, ice-covered region that is warming faster than any other part of the world. happening

The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) 2022 Arctic Report Card was compiled by 147 experts from 11 countries and is an overview of the rapid change in the Arctic and its impacts on the environment, ecosystems, economies and local communities. Provides important insights.

This is another piece of evidence of the many changes in the Earth system that are being monitored by the WMO community.

Arctic Sea Ice Cycles Reveal Impacts Of Climate Change • Earth.com

“The 2022 Arctic Report Card emphasizes the urgent need to combat the climate crisis by reducing greenhouse gases.

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