Abundant polar bear habitat across the Arctic at the start of winter

polarbearscience

January is the first month of the Arctic winter, the season when most polar bears really struggle to find enough to eat.

Here is what the sea ice looked like around the Arctic at the end of this month.

Compare to last year:

And the year before that (2017):

A closer look at conditions in Canada and Alaska:

Compared to last year:

And the year before that (2017), where there was much less ice in the Gulf of St. Lawrence:

In contrast, there has recently been lots of ice compared to conditions in eastern Canada at 31 Jan 2010:

Further east, north of Norway, Barents Sea ice has expanded remarkably over the last few months:

Here is what polar bear specialist Andrew Derocher had to say about the state of the ice in the Barents Sea:

Svalbard sea ice 4th lowest area on record for Jan 31. At 273,936 sq…

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