Loss of Arctic sea ice threatens polar bears

Loss of Arctic sea ice threatens polar bears. Today’s Video of the Day from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) features a polar bear sighting off the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy.

The Arctic has been hit the hardest by global warming of any region on the planet. Rising temperatures are causing major losses of Arctic sea ice, as it thins and retreats. 

The conditions are becoming unsuitable for polar bears, who depend on sea ice for traveling and hunting.  If current ice melting trends continue, the bears are likely to become extinct in the southern Beaufort Sea region of Alaska and adjacent Canada, the study concludes. 

The video was captured during the 2015 Arctic GEOTRACES expedition. But a recent study shows some subpopulations of polar bears are struggling to complete these essential tasks because of declining concentrations of Arctic sea ice. The Arctic sea ice cap is a large area of frozen seawater floating on top of the Arctic Ocean and its surrounding seas and straits. The loss of sea ice habitat from climate change is the biggest threat to the survival of polar bears. Loss of Arctic sea ice threatens polar bears

—

By Chrissy Sexton, Earth.com Staff Writer

Video Credit: WHOI/Bill Schmoker