Polar Bears Are Thriving

There's more genetic diversity in polar bear populations than specialists had assumed.

Newly-discovered SE Greenland polar bear subpopulation: another assumption proven false
Posted on June 16, 2022 | Comments Offon Newly-discovered SE Greenland polar bear subpopulation: another assumption proven false
Researchers have discovered that the 300 or so polar bears living in SE Greenland (below 64 degrees N) are so genetically distinct and geographically isolated that they qualify as a unique subpopulation, adding one more to the 19 subpopulations currently described by the IUCN Polar Bear Specialist Group.


NASA photo, SE Greenland glacier-front habitat with a polar bear and two cubs.
Previously, polar bear researchers simply assumed all of the bears in East Greenland were part of the same subpopulation but no field work had been conducted in the extreme southern area until 2015-2017. When they included this region, they got a big surprise: now they are spinning it as significant for polar bear conservation (Laidre et al. 2022).



Continue reading →

 

Observations are not assumptions.

"In effect, many scientists say, the bears have been co-opted by climate denialists, and in an article published Tuesday in the peer-reviewed journal BioScience, 14 prominent researchers argue that denialist blogs with wide followings are using the bears to spread misinformation about the causes and consequences of climate change.

The researchers also singled out Polar Bear Science, a blog run by Susan J. Crockford, a Canadian zoologist, as a primary source of dubious information about the status of polar bears. About 80 percent of the contrarian websites that the researchers studied referred to Dr. Crockford’s blog as a primary source, they said.

“If people are going to make claims that are contrary to scientific understanding, then it’s perfectly appropriate to call them out for it,” he said, “because in this day and age, where there are so many information sources, it’s often difficult to identify who’s a real expert.”

Crockford got money from Koch for 2 years, but it's safe to conclude she still gets Dark Money from Koch. She had a position at a university, but was terminated.

I always google a kooks name and add the Koch name in the search bar, it almost always comes back this way. All kooks, all the time... (A witness, once impeached..)

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/10/climate/polar-bears-climate-deniers.html

 

In this case, observations refuted assumptions.
The old boy network of polar bear researchers have never forgiven Crockford for embarrassing them by refuting their model predicting polar bears' demise. Ongoing observations support her view, not theirs.
Your Koch allegation is just a conspiracy theory.

 

The moment you see terms like "climate denialist," you know you are looking at a lie.

But the facts show that the real misinformation is being spread by La Carbonostra.

I.e., facts that disprove the false and absurd notion that polar bears cannot survive the temperatures of the Holocene Optimum.

Because it has facts, not just models and assumptions.

Like the claim that polar bears cannot survive temperatures that they self-evidently and indisputably did survive several thousand years ago....?

I.e., who mouths the Officially Authorized Narrative....?

Evidence = 0.

For refuting and embarrassing La Carbonostra.

Use of the term, "climate deniers" is always conclusive proof that the source is lying.

 

Nice fantasy, sorry you got suckered.

 

You misidentified who got suckered.
Polar bear specialist Mitch Taylor on accountability in polar bear science [link]
Polar bear specialist Mitch Taylor on accountability in polar bear science
Posted on April 15, 2018 | Comments Offon Polar bear specialist Mitch Taylor on accountability in polar bear science
Polar bear specialist Mitch Taylor emailed me and others his response to the New York Times article that appeared Tuesday (10 April) about the Harvey et al. (201 BioScience paper attacking my scientific integrity. Here it is in full, with his permission, and my comments. Don’t miss the footnote!
". . . The response to Susan’s work is politically motivated, not an argument against her conclusions. The journal’s response to this article and to her complaint was also political. Sadly, BioScience is not a credible scientific journal anymore. We have fake news and fake science. . . ."

 

Yes, you have a ton of it.

 

I'll take Mitchell Taylor's word over yours, sorry.

 

I'll take NASA over all of your kooks put together..

 

NASA isn't in this debate.

 

It's not a debate, it's a mocking.

 

NASA has no data on this topic, so your comment was meaningless.

 

That your way of saying they ain't kooks?

https://climate.nasa.gov/scientific-consensus/

 

I'm saying they are not useful or important on the specific topic of polar bears.

 

No, you did. Proof: you actually believe there are people who deny that there is climate, or that it changes.

 

Yet somehow, you can't refute a single sentence with facts and logic. All you do is... deny:

 

They aren't kooks, and they aren't fools. Crooks, toadies and liars, yes.

 

You mean you'll take political NASA over scientific NASA:

https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-scientists-dispute-climate-change-2012-4

 

Naw, just the climatologists.

I guess even astronauts are vulnerable to propaganda.

 

None of which is relevant to this thread topic.

 

The battle for truth continues against the false AGW polar bear narrative.

New polar bear subpopulation update: more background facts and details from the paper
Posted on June 19, 2022 | Comments Offon New polar bear subpopulation update: more background facts and details from the paper
Here are the facts you need to put into context the claim that the estimated 234 polar bears recently discovered in SE Greenland have been living ‘without sea ice‘.


The unique genetic isolation of this new subpopulation makes it one of the most interesting discoveries about polar bears we’ve seen in decades, yet the media were primed by a press release loaded with dooms-day climate rhetoric to focus exclusively on the model-predicted precarious future of the species, like this gem from the lead author:

“In a sense, these bears provide a glimpse into how Greenland’s bears may fare under future climate scenarios,” Laidre said. “The sea ice conditions in Southeast Greenland today resemble what’s predicted for Northeast Greenland by late this century.”

As a consequence, the media have been trying to out-do each other with the most over-the-top climate catastrophe headlines, see here and here. The authors of paper itself and a companion piece do the same: instead of focusing on the exciting scientific implications of the genetically isolated population they discovered, they promote the preferred narrative that polar bears have a bleak future and lecture the public (yet again) about the need for limiting CO2 emissions (Laidre et al. 2022; Peacock 2022).

Continue reading →

 

Lots of ice for the bears.

Southern Beaufort Sea polar bear habitat at the summer solstice is above average
Posted on June 23, 2022 | Comments Offon Southern Beaufort Sea polar bear habitat at the summer solstice is above average
Sea ice is well above recent levels for this time of year in the Southern Beaufort and only time will tell if that’s bad news for polar bears. Seals need the open water that early summer polynyas provide in order to feed and some polar bears make use of the hunting opportunities (Stirling and Cleator 1981; Stirling et al. 1981).




It’s been a decade since there was this little open water at the beginning of summer in the western North American Arctic, especially the Southern Beaufort. It’s looking unlikely there will be extensive open water until well into July, which may result in many fewer bears on shore in early summer. Recall that in July 2019, NOAA employees counted 31 fat, healthy bears onshore along the Alaska coast.


Continue reading →

 

These days, sadly, that's very much political NASA.

Or to just looking out their own windows and confirming with their own eyes that political NASA is lying.

 

The bears are enjoying the summer.

Arctic sea ice still quite abundant for early summer
Posted on July 14, 2022 | Comments Offon Arctic sea ice still quite abundant for early summer
Despite rhetoric to the contrary, there is still plenty of sea ice over Arctic regions this summer, supplying feeding platforms for polar bears, ice-dependent seals, and walrus cows nursing their young calves. Forget about whether the numbers are below or above some short-term average, there is no catastrophe in the making for marine mammals in the Arctic at this time.


Remember, by early summer, young seals have left the surface of the ice and are in the water feeding; predator-savvy adults and subadults are hauled out on broken chunks of ice moulting their hair-coat. They may look like sitting ducks but polar bears have a hard time catching them because the seals are vigilant and have many escape routes available (due to all the open water). Most polar bears in Hudson Bay are still on the ice (you’ll see why below): the live cams near Churchill set up to watch polar bears are presently showing images of ravens with sea ice in the background, not bears.

This post is predominantly sea ice charts for mid-July, what we in the science field call observational evidence, aka ‘facts’. Keep in mind that satellites used to produce these images have an especially hard time distinguishing ice topped with melt water from open water, which means much more ice useful to these marine mammals is almost certainly present than is shown in the charts (as much as 20% more in some regions).

Continue reading →

 

Happy bears.
Some of the first polar bears onshore in Western Hudson Bay are in excellent condition
Posted on July 19, 2022 | Comments Offon Some of the first polar bears onshore in Western Hudson Bay are in excellent condition
From the live cams installed on beluga tour boats running near the Churchill River, we have some good photos of a few fat polar bears onshore in Western Hudson Bay.




These bears were attracted to the remnants of a beluga carcass with nothing much left on it (lower right in the photo) and stayed around for at least a few days. The female with her cub-of-the-year was remarkably tolerant of an adult male nearby.

Continue reading →