From: user7160@newsgrouper.org.invalid   
      
   On 2/2/26 6:25 AM, Julian wrote:   
   >   
   > Polar bears are getting fatter in the fastest-warming place on Earth   
   > Shrinking sea ice has made life harder for polar bears in many parts of   
   > the Arctic, but the population in Svalbard seems to be thriving   
   >   
   > Polar bears have been getting fatter even as sea ice disappears in   
   > Norway’s Svalbard archipelago, the fastest-warming place on Earth – but   
   > scientists don’t expect the good times to last.   
   >   
   > The northern Barents Sea, which stretches between Svalbard and Russia’s   
   > Novaya Zemlya in the Arctic Ocean, has been heating up seven times   
   > faster than the globe as a whole. The sea ice around Svalbard lasts two   
   > months less in winter and spring than it did two decades ago. Bears now   
   > have to swim 200 to 300 kilometres between hunting grounds on the ice   
   > and snow dens on the islands where they give birth.   
   >   
   > But the average size and weight of the Svalbard bears have increased   
   > since 2000, a finding that surprised Jon Aars at the Norwegian Polar   
   > Institute, who led the study.   
   >   
   > “We should think about this as good news for Svalbard,” he says. “But   
   if   
   > you want bad news, you can just go and look somewhere else where you   
   > have very, very firm evidence that climate change is impacting polar   
   > bears negatively.”   
   >   
   > This wide-ranging, solitary predator is split into 20 populations across   
   > the far north, where it is extremely difficult to count. While its   
   > numbers are declining in parts of Alaska, Canada and Greenland, they   
   > appear to be stable or increasing in other places. For nine of the   
   > populations, data is too sparse to say.   
   >   
   > The Barents Sea population, which was estimated at 1900 to 3600 bears   
   > two decades ago, is thought to be stable or perhaps even growing.   
   > Starting in 1995, Aars and his colleagues tranquilised 770 bears with   
   > dart guns from helicopters. They hopped out onto the snow or ice to   
   > measure their length and, to estimate weight, their girth at the chest.   
   >   
   > Trend analysis showed this body condition decreased until 2000, then   
   > increased until the end of observations in 2019.   
   >   
   > In the spring, when ringed seals give birth to pups on the sea ice,   
   > polar bears hunt them to build up stores of fat for the ice-free months.   
   > Aars and his colleagues believe the shrinking ice area may be making   
   > these seals easier to find.   
   >   
   > The bears are also exploiting new food sources. The approximately 250   
   > individuals that remain on the islands when the ice recedes may be   
   > hunting more bearded seals along the coast, as well as harbour seals,   
   > which are spreading to Svalbard as the climate warms.   
   >   
   > These “local bears” are increasingly ransacking duck and geese colonies   
   > for eggs, and they have been seen chasing down reindeer from a growing   
   > cervid population. The carcasses of walruses, another species that is   
   > increasing there, can provide weeks of feasting.   
   >   
   >   
   > Alec Luhn / New Scientist   
   >   
      
   cherry picking can't prove a trend   
      
   lotta sheeple don't understand this   
      
   --   
   hi, i'm nick! let's end war 🙃   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
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