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Subscribe to RSSA recent voyage by the National Geographic Explorer ship to the Arctic captured a female polar bear fighting a male for food. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports on the trip, which allowed experts to evaluate the environmental changes in the Arctic.
Wildlife biologist Ian Bullock is a seasoned visitor to the Arctic, but even he was surprised by what he saw last month: a thin female polar bear, shadowed by her cub, trying to challenge a much bigger, stronger male for food.
It wasn't much of a challenge, but it showed just how desperate she was, Bullock told NBC News on returning from his 10th straight summer cruise to the Arctic.
That desperation, he feels, stems from the fact that the Arctic's summer sea ice — which polar bears using as floating stations from which to hunt seals — has been shrinking over the last few decades due to a warming Arctic, forcing polar bears into smaller areas and more intense competition.
"She was the thinnest female with cub I have ever seen," he said. "She had a single cub which implies she has already lost one other cub this year.
"If she cannot feed, she cannot suckle her cub; with a hungry cub it is even harder for her to hunt effectively, so from what I saw her last cub is at risk and ultimately so is she," he added. "This is why she was challenging a big male with food. She was hungry enough to take a big risk."
In a video filmed during the National Geographic Explorer cruise to the Arctic's Svalbard region, Bullock said it looks like that reduced ice is "really putting the bears under stress."
"The worst thing is when we've encountered bears, we've found them really packed in tight, in the last little areas of fast ice attached to land, or the last little patches of pack ice at sea," said Bullock, who served as a guide on the cruise ship. "And there they've been in competition."
Polar bears are listed as "vulnerable" and in decline by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which estimates the population at no more than 25,000 across the Arctic.
The U.S., which has two Arctic regions where polar bears live, in 2008 listed its population as "threatened".
Last year, researchers cited three incidents where polar bears might even have resorted to cannibalism due to warming and reduced sea ice.
The diminished sea ice also got the attention of the National Geographic Explorer's skipper.
Captain Leif Skog told NBC News that he had e-mailed his boss, Sven Lindblad of Lindblad Expeditions, to describe "a shocking escalation of the reduction of sea ice."
One data graph he monitored daily, showing the total volume of Arctic sea ice, "could be called the death spiral of the Arctic sea ice," he said in his e-mail to Lindblad.
Because of the reduced sea ice, he added, the cruise was able to visit northeast Greenland "a month earlier than what was normal in the past."
"We expected to face some sea ice but everything was gone in the fjords upon our arrival," he added. "The sea water temperature in the fjords was also unbelievably high."
Another expert on the cruise called the outside temperature "surprisingly warm."
"It was T-shirt weather," Paul Berkman, an environmental science professor at the University of California Santa Barbara, told NBC News. Berkman noted two other major Arctic developments over the summer:
- The amount of summer sea ice reached its lowest point in 30 years of records.
- Nearly the entire surface of Greenland's ice cap saw some melting in July, a phenomenon not seen in 150 years of ice records.
Berkman said the polar regions, and the Arctic in particular, show an "amplified response" to a warming climate ahead of other parts of the globe.
That response is twofold, he adds: Arctic temperatures have warmed 3-6 degrees F above the global average, and reduced ice removes huge amounts of reflective white from the sea and reveals a dark sea that absorbs heat.
The sea ice is like "a giant mirror on Earth's surface" he said. "Without summer Arctic sea ice, more heat from the sun is absorbed into the Earth system, which is a feedback that further accelerates warming of our climate."
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- US won't rule out Islamist link in killing of US ambassador to Libya
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But Sean Hannity of Fox News said that Global Warming and Climate Change is false and not real!!
Glenn Beck says "Global Warming is the Greatest Scam in History!"
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) argues that manmade global warming doesn't make any sense because " carbon dioxide is a natural byproduct of nature."
And that this is some left wing liberal media bias communist crazy.
OBAMA2012
Let's see:
NOBAMA's "clean energy" program was a failure
NOBAMA's backing of "Solyndra", was a bust, even if WE pumped MILLIONS into them trying to keep them afloat with OUR TAXPAYER dollars.
"Cash for Clunkers"= total failure
Global Warming STILL continuing...
Nobama flip-flopping on his commitment to NO NEW DRILLING FOR OIL
Yea.....
ROMNEY2012!!!
You can call him "nobama" all you want, but you also just proved that Obama is attempting, and will continue to attempt, to work on this problem. Unlike Romney which will deny it exists because your true leader Rush will say so.
The choice is clear.
Unfortunately FACTS seem to be avoiding your education process
Republican elected officials think global warming is false...
So if you VOTE Rmoney, than its a VOTE for corporate sponsored ANTI-Global Warming.
Now Please explain your Obama "clean energy" program was a failure? What failure?
Here's the real news: The price of solar decreased by 50 percent during 2011! 50 percent! That's a game-changing number that has resulted in a jump in installations throughout the U.S. and Europe, according to a recent Bloomberg report. Indeed, here in the U.S., new spending on solar energy jumped more than 30 percent to $55.9 billion in 2011, surpassing the 1 percent gain in China to $47.4 billion.
And You mean Solyndra's loan approval process began under the REPUBLICAN Bush administration.
"Cash for Clunkers"= total failure..." HOW SO???
Time Magazine says "Was the cash-for-clunkers program a success?
The short answer is yes. The program accomplished what it was set out to do, which was to get consumers back into the showrooms and to jump-start new-vehicle sales"
DOMESTIC OIL DRILLING up in the US under Obama
According to the Bureau of Land Management, the agency tasked with reporting oil drilling permits, etc. on federal lands has reported that In 2009 under President Obama, there were 4,487 oil drilling permits approved to drill on federal land and in 2010 there were 4,090 permits issued and finally by 2011 there were 4,244.
in 2001, the Bush administration approved only 3,439.
Please do your best to get properly educated on a subject before typing... or at least before voting.
Issues aren't always political in nature! How can we accurately say that the world is warming when we only have data from the last 120-150 years? If we seriously came out of the last ice age 20,000 years ago then we have less than 1% of the data to accurately make that statement. I'm about as liberal of a conservative that there is out there, but how can you be such a hypocrite and blame the overuse of fossil fuels when you also sat here on your electricity guzzling computer or labtop or phone that is made of some of the rarest elements on earth and criticize people. Get a clue we're all to blame "if" there is blame to be had. Personally I made this comment on my computer that I made from sticks and fallen leaves so my conscious is clear.
Also that hybrid your driving will not be available in forty years, because the elements in those batteries will be used up from the earth. I think it's called liberal consumerism.
We have 800,000 years of core samples.
We're talking human induced warming since the last ice age cts, you know the current geologic period that we are currently in. How do core samples represent the overuse of fossil fuels? within those 800,000 years there were periods on earth that were warmer than we are today. Your comment doesn't make sense.
Core samples can show what temperatures were, what CO2 levels were, and what fraction of CO2 came from fossil fuels, among other things.
We can also sample tree rings, shells, sediments, etc. for additional data, all of which adds to the total picture.
It is clear beyond any doubt that the current decades are showing very high rates of climate change compared to historical norms, in fact among the fastest that have ever happened in hundreds of millions of years.
Republicans say there is no global warming. Why? They get their marching orders from Corporations who are more concerned about greed than our environment. I hate to say it, but as long as we keep the same political climate we currently have, nothing is going to change for the good. Things will get worse and it will be too late. Politics is what is killing these animals. Get money out politics and maybe the environment and creatures of all kinds will have a fighting chance.
No kidding. When I watch so called "liberal MSNBC" or any other of all that "liberal media", why is it that every channel is nothing but Chevron, Exxon-Mobil "supporting America's teachers""-(that's a HOT one), the lady in the black suit walking across a big map of the USA telling us about the "hundred of thousands of jobs naural gas wil create and how it powers America" brought to you by ANGA, " The Gulf is back and tourism is better then ever", "We are committed to protecting the Gulf and research to an environmental study of the region for a better future because we'll be here for YOU" brought to you by your FRIENDS at BP, "America NEEDS Manfacturing, we need to build things pipes, steel, cement and we've invested 8 BILLION back into the economy to create jobs" Says the Exxon-Mobil to the clueless guy on the other side called the "consumer".
ONE ad for a CLEAN energy company? Just ONE? Anywhere? One station on all our effing non-existant LIBERAL media? Not a ONE. NEVER so you reich wing trolls screaming about Solyndra and Obama's "failed policies" one more time or global warming isn't real and that "climate change has taken pace over millions of years when all the crap that has been going on here has been done in a span of less then a hundred, our brutal storms, weather patterns, hurricanes, wildfires, floods, droughts, record glacier melts and acidifying of our oceans and the literal DYING of the Great Barrier Reef, plankton die off that IS happening in front of your faces as you make your dumb excuse, wisecracks, call people like ME libTARDS and other asinine names, get the message, this IS real and you'd better better get off stoip the denying, change you attitudes, consume LESS, stop voting for morons who are beholden to the CORPORATE state of greed and there are enough sell out dems called the BLUE DOGS who I want to kick so hard their be orbiting Pluto but get OFF IT already and cut the CRAP befoe we're all swimming in our own SH!T!!! I can't it ANYMORE as I have 9 and 10 year old daughters who need to LIVE!!! I want to LIVE, not fight to survive for a few drops left in the last pond that is not polluted.
"Water, water everywhere but not a drop to DRINK!!!" We're not going there man!! Grow up and face facts, not your endless BS!!!
this it's the bitter true about the global warming, so many people don't care about any ways or they don't realized what the real problem.
Republicans the leading cause of death
you libs have fun on this thread.
...keep trying to say global warming is "man made"
and good luck trying to convince people that volcanoes are man mad too.
We totally need to sacrifice more virgins to the Arctic ice, it will be appeased and return to its benevolent ways
More NBC bullshiite, the Polar bear population is growing. It would be decreasing if there was an immediate problem.
Going on a cruise is not a study, this says more about the "scientists" than it does about Polar bears.
Oh yeah, the scientist said:
"That desperation, he feels, stems from the fact that the Arctic's summer sea ice — which polar bears using as floating stations from which to hunt seals — has been shrinking over the last few decades, forcing polar bears into smaller areas and more intense competition."
He "FEELS"???? And what scientific term is this? I feel something too,,,a bunch of BS that has become like a religion to some. We are so freakin simple minded that we think 1. Man can control climate to this degree and 2. Our point of reference is how many years? A few hundred maybe? Give me a break. Worry more about child abuse, crime and other social issues that we can actually control!!!!!
He was speculating as to why a starving female bear would ever challenge a much larger male bear. As an expert, based on his research and years of experience, his opinion is certainly relevant.
I really appreciate your post... But as I stated in my first... as opposed to BLAMING the left wing conspiracy communist socialist made up BS.. We need to listen to Scientists who around the world have determined that Climate Change and Global Warming is very much real and effecting us today because human behavior. My post was to put a spotlight on Leaders of the Republican Propaganda Machine in hopes to move at least one viewer towards scientific facts... not propaganda fiction. Respectfully so... Pro.
You mean "political" scientists looking for government handouts to stay in business. No real scientist would say that the period of global warming that we have seen for the past 10,000 years is due to cars starting in 1920 to today. They need to turn in their diploma's.
SRS - You are still a bumb ars that wants to blame repubs for everything. Grow up!!!!
Actually Polar Bear populations are on the rise... you don't need to be a College level graduate to research the data on that fact.
So what's the point of this article? It's completely useless...
Exactly, just because the witnessed one bear family in distress. Get your pitchforks and storm the GOP!
Not true. If you only count the single increasing population in Canada, you're misleading your reader. From 2009:
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/06/more-polar-bear-populations-in-decline/
"Only one bear population is increasing (in the Canadian high Arctic), while eight are declining in numbers, the scientists said. At its last meeting, in 2005, the group concluded that five populations were in decline. Three populations appear to be stable and seven are too poorly monitored to gauge a trend."
Maybe you DO need to be a college level graduate to use Google.
Actually a college grad would site multiple sources.
Keep digging, there are far more sources out there that discuss bear populations as of late and much more recent than 2005.
LOL, damn Borderlands. You just defined Sore Loser. He made you look silly by providing you evidence, something you called others out on, and you now say 1 link isn't enough.
I've never seen a more severe case of ownage.
Now I'm thinking you need a doctorate.
Via PR -
Absolutely not accurate.
But the broader story here isn't polar bears - it's the effect that disappearing Arctic ice is already having on our own weather. The polar jet stream is slowing down, and it's ability to 'push' weather systems from west to east is decreasing.
Too much heat, cold, rain, or dry weather is bad news for everyone - and we're already seeing that happen. Remember this year's (and last year's) extended heat/drought in the US? The 2010 Russian heatwave? Last winter's extreme cold in eastern/southern Europe? Etc.
That's the result of a slower polar jet stream. Expect to see much more of it. This isn't about polar bears any more.
We put money before anything in our civilization. They talk about leaving a debt mess for our children. The debt ain't going to mean a damn thing if we destroy our planet.
The first thing the GOP will do is get rid of all environmental laws and protections. Shame on any fool who thinks that is OK.
Here's an idea. How about Coca-Cola stop using them for advertising. Use some of the money they made from the ads and help keep them around. Such a selfish world....
Feed Polar Bears not Muslims
feed muslims to the polar bears!
sad, very sad. we humans are suppose to be intelligent but we not as smart as birds -- even birds know better than to foul their own nest -- but humans foul their nest and then poison every other species' nests....
ONLY global warming? what about old age, disease, wounds, over population, no food, nature cycles, get over it. brutal, but it can happen to HOMO sapiens too! just look at history, why do you think the Chinese eat bird nests! or cockroaches, or slugs, or worms, or rhino's,??? they were F ing hungery. The hunger games can be for real with obama. We all can drink ethanol!
Why don't we just drop a side of beef or some fish for them? I would hate to see the extinction of these animals.
It's Bush's fault. We're all doomed!
The ole' starving polar bear shtick again. I saw a starving cat run down the street. Global warming?
where are the starving kids? that is global warming too!
That is overpopulation and helps cause Global Warming.
Oh, here we go again. The media is certainly going to extreme lengths to spare Obama's incompetence from the general public. NBC is a joke.
Global warming is Obama's fault too? Like hurricanes?
A starving polar bear is as common as getting mauled by a polar bear and grizzly bear on the same day.
-Etrade
SRS-798254
I suggest we feed them Global Warming Deniers, starting with Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan.
=============================================
YES, she said viciously. Seriously, there's got to be a way that humans can help feed these bears.
Seriously, Global Warming deniers sounds smashing!
How much longer are the Republicans going to think this is funny?
Till hell freezes over,get it!!!Hah,hah,hah,hah,hah,etc.
Global man made warming is bull@!$%#,bull@!$%#,bull@!$%#,bull@!$%#,etc,etc,etc, ad infinitum
So was the ozone hole. That was all a ruse just so the chemical companys could produce a more profitable refrigerant and propellant.