A Refuge for Ice Bears

credit: Yale Environment 360

More:Where in the world is Nuuk? Madame Secretary Clinton probably asked the same question as she heads to the Arctic summit in the capital of Greenland.  The Arctic is a hot diplomatic topic now, excuse the pun, as nations bordering the sea at the top of the world see opportunity in the melting of the ice cap, opening the region to resource exploration and shipping. In the last fifty years, the mean winter temperature has increased more than six degrees Fahrenheit. The United States is operating at a disadvantage since it has not ratified the Law of the Sea Treaty which has been ratified by 161 nations. Ratification of the treaty that will govern relations between nations as it concerns the Arctic and its resources has been blocked by several conservative Senators. Ratification would allow international recognition to exclusive fishing and mining rights within 200 miles of the Alaskan coast as well as a 600 mile claim to the seabed beyond the exclusive economic zone. Russia has already made its seafloor claim explicit by planting its flag on the sea floor by submarine. {"The Last Elephant", August 2007} The scramble for the Arctic is on, and the United States is placing its bet on the independence of Greenland from Denmark according to Wikileaks cables on the subject. The region is believed to contain about one-quarter of the world's remaining oil reserves.

However, none of this possible economic exploitation of a region previously too extreme for large scale human activities bodes well for endangered species that make their home in the frigid Arctic waters. The food web at the top of the world is not diverse, and therefore fragile. All arctic mammals are dependent on the microscopic organisms that live underneath the ice cap and feed still abundant fish species like the Arctic cod. The three types of seals, ring, bearded and spotted, that are the prey of polar bears depend on fish and zooplankton to survive. A spill such as the Deepwater Horizon could wipe a large part of the ocean's marine algae and zooplankton which is the base of the Arctic food chain, causing a catastrophic collapse. Climate change is decreasing both ice cover and snow. Seals and polar bears need snow to make dens for birthing and rearing their young. Lack of ice and snow cover do not allow seals to reproduce normally, depriving polar bears of their almost exclusive food source. Starving bears are seen eating unusual foods such as berries, grass, moss, and goose eggs that cannot replace the fat rich seal meat need to withstand extreme Arctic weather. Starving bears do not reproduce. Usually strong swimmers, polar bears have drowned at sea attempting to cross greater areas of open ocean. If man begins to exploit the Arctic fisheries commercially, it could mean a knockout blow for large marine mammals in the Arctic. These are ominous signs of a stressed Arctic ecosystem. These are issues the Secretary of State would be wise to consider on the road to Nuuk.

{13.5.11}The fact of anthropogenic global temperature rise melting Arctic ice is established. By the middle of this century the Arctic Ocean will be mostly ice free in the summer months. That presents a lethal problem for polar bears struggling to adapt to a radically different environment. Without sea ice, polar bears will be cut off from hunting the mainstay of their diet, ringed seals. Conservationists are beginning to think of how polar bears can be saved from extinction. They have noticed that in most projections of melting a band of the oldest ice is pushed up against northern Greenland and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago by Arctic Ocean currents and winds where it remains relatively persistent.[green area on map]. Unlike twenty years ago, there is very little old ice (>5yrs) left in the Arctic. Most of it is 1-2 years old and therefore thinner, more subject to movement by wind and currents. This remnant of older ice cover could provide a refuge for ice dependent species like the polar bear, seals, walruses and whales. Arctic researchers have suggested at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union that this entire region of stable ice be made into a frozen "Noah's Ark" that would allow survival of threatened Arctic animals into the late 21st century. From this refuge, species could repopulate the entire Arctic if man succeeds in halting the warming trend in global temperatures and the ice sheet reforms.

stuffed 'grolar'

Based on current projections Arctic sea ice will largely disappear by mid-century and two-thirds of polar bears could disappear. But if mitigation of warming occurs on a large scale, ice sheets could return and with it polar bears could persist into the next century and beyond. A refuge such as the one being suggested would insure the survival of a genetically viable population until more favorable conditions return. Hybridization with southern grizzly bears pushing north is already occurring at undetermined frequency, reversing 200,000 years of speciation. The region's rugged coastline also collects snow which would provide denning sites for mother bears to raise offspring. What is more certain is that in other areas of the Arctic, denuded of ice in the summer, polar bears will not survive. Establishing a refuge for polar bears now in the Northern Canadian Arctic and Greenland is throwing them a life line they most certainly will need if they are to survive our alteration of Earth's climate.