From: punditster@gmail.com   
      
   On 2/2/2026 10:13 AM, dart200 wrote:   
   > 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   
   >   
   Thank you for addressing this matter, Nick!   
      
   A shepherd sent his son out to check on the sheep.   
      
   After awhile, the father went out to see what happened and found the   
   youth face down in the grass - asleep.   
      
   "I told you to count the sheep!"   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)