Arctic Ice Rebounds — Summer Extent Greatest Since 2004
Summer Sea Ice Good News for Hudson Bay Polar Bears
By PR Newswire, Aug. 18, 2009 [here]
CHURCHILL, Canada — Scientists have confirmed what a Tundra Buggy(R) business in Churchill is witnessing: that due to colder-than-usual subarctic weather this year, healthier polar bears are being spotted along the west Hudson Bay coast.
“We are going to have a great opportunity this autumn to fulfill our Tundra Buggy Adventure guests’ expectations of snow, ice and healthy polar bears,” says John Gunter, General Manager of Frontiers North Adventures in Churchill. “The last couple weeks, as polar bears have been making their way from ice to land for the summer, we’ve seen from our Tundra Buggies numerous big, healthy polar bears in Manitoba Conservation’s Churchill Wildlife Management Area, east of Churchill.”
“This year there is more ice on average,” explains Dr. David Barber, a Canada Research Chair in Arctic System Science and the director of the Centre for Earth Observation Science at the University of Manitoba. “Hudson Bay in particular has seen a very cold winter and essentially a late spring.” … [more]
Graph courtesy International Arctic Research Center in cooperation with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).