By Geoff York
The winds have dropped a bit when I check the weather station data and we still have mostly clear skies. We coordinate with our fixed wing pilot in Kotzebue and make plans to meet up somewhere out on the ice west of Point Hope. We try to get the plane out well ahead of us as he has much more endurance than our helicopter. Ideally, the plane will find a bear or at least tracks and we can take it from there.
Such is our luck today as we hunt our way towards an area of tracks that the fixed wing picked up ahead of us. Along the way we encounter and catch one of the few single females of the season. The FWS biologists will have to try and tease out the story from the data, but it appears one or two years of low cub survival were followed by two really good years given the unusually high percentage of yearlings and low percentage of single adult females.
We eventually make it out to the tracks, and they turn out to be too much of a good thing. The combination of a large orange fishing buoy (hard to say where it may have come from) and a nearby seal kill seem to attract every bear in the area. There are easily track sets for at least four separate bears/groups! We spend a frustratingly long time trying to tease out a good set to follow, but they invariably lead back to the kill site or the buoy time and time again.
We eventually untangle a single set that continues away from the heavily tracked area. As seems too often be the case however, we are just at the edge of being able to capture the bear and still fly to our refueling point. The tracks are also leading us out over a combination of new six inch ice (safe to work on) and some thinner grey ice that would be problematic. The tracks lead us to a single bear that appears to be a young adult male. We’ll only get one darting run as we have to spend a little time positioning him away from possible hazards (thin ice and water). The bear proves to be a bit too agile and our one shot sails over his shoulder – time to refuel.
After taking on another load from our fixed wing support, we head back to the GPS waypoint I made for the single male. It is surprisingly easy to lose both tracks and even bears out on the sea ice, and we have no luck finding our boy for a second attempt to capture. After following a few more sets back to the maze, we decide to fly several miles to the west in search of a better area.
One logistic challenge in the Chukchi, polar bears are not evenly distributed across the available landscape, nor are they necessarily near shore. This year we have basically two “hot” areas for encountering bears and both are about 100 km from our base. This means we use a fair bit of our fuel just getting to the good bear areas and getting back to camp. Today this means that our second fuel load will not buy us a great deal of additional time out on the ice.
We soon find ourselves up against our range limitation when we, of course, find a sow with cubs. To pull off a successful capture, we’d use up the fuel we need to get home and would be forced to try and refuel at the village of Point Hope. As it is the height of bowhead whaling season for the local Inuit people, we decide it is best to pass this opportunity up and start heading southeast towards home. After spending most of the day following tracks without finding the track makers, we are taunted one last time as we fly over a large single male – just not quite enough fuel, so we mark a waypoint for future reference and call it a day.
WWF International Arctic Programme polar bear specialist, Geoff York, is currently in the Chukchi Sea area with the US Fisheries and Wildlife Service, conducting research into the status of polar bear populations in the area, and is blogging for the WWF Climate blog while he is there.
Tag Archives: polar bears
Why do we do it?
By Geoff York
The weather holds and even improves as we head into the last week of the project. Clear skies and sun, though the winds are forecast to pick up during the day. We’ll launch in the late morning as we’ve noticed over the years that the bears seem less active earlier in the day. Tracks and bears are also both easier to spot in the low angle light of the evening hours.
Within an hour of leaving the base, we cross the tracks of a family group and are soon safely on the ice with a sow and two yearlings. The winds are much stronger on the ice, blowing a steady 20 knots. Although the temperature is moderate (well – relatively speaking), the wind and blowing snow make for challenging work conditions.
Much of the sampling we do requires us to kneel on the ice and often take our gloves off to manipulate equipment or samples. Today, there is blasting snow up to about half a metre from the ice surface. Anything that is open (gear bags and tagging boxes) begin to immediately fill with snow. Exposed fingers become wet with snow and chill quickly. Gear, paperwork, and people are covered and our progress is slowed. When you stand up, it’s actually pretty nice out, but our work is on the ground.
As described this past week and throughout these entries, the capture and handling of polar bears is logistically challenging, stressful to crew and animal alike, and poses some risk to all involved. For people, the work involves successively long days of physical work in sometimes very cold conditions. The Arctic itself, both due to the remoteness and weather, is a very unforgiving place to work. Mistakes or poor judgment can quickly lead to serious trouble, and you are a long way from any help. Since 1990, four biologists and one pilot have died trying to better understand these amazing animals. A sobering statistic, given the small number of scientists who conduct field research on polar bears across the Arctic.
Capturing polar bears is clearly stressful for them as well, and not without some risk. The greatest danger for bears during capture is water and possible drowning. Managing this requires constant vigilance from the capture crew as the sea ice is constantly changing. Research-related mortalities are fortunately very uncommon.
The capture event itself, and to a lesser degree the sample collection and handling, places extra demands on the animals. Given the wounds we see from bear/bear interaction, the tagging, tattooing, blood, and tooth collection are comparatively minor. That said, all possible care is taken to minimize stress and reduce the invasiveness of sample collection during all procedures.
So why do we do it?
For me, it’s the love of the animals and the place they represent (both symbolically and ecologically) – the Arctic. For all involved in polar bear research, it is the desire to better understand and conserve these truly unique bears. Governments are bound to manage polar bears through national laws and international treaties. Mangers need sound scientific information to meet the goals of these laws and treaties. Indigenous people across the Arctic still rely on polar bears for food, fur, and cultural/spiritual uses. Setting sustainable quotas is critical to protecting this usage today and for generations to come.
Almost everything we know about polar bears comes from long term research programs. Without capturing, handling, and applying tracking devices to polar bears, we would not know where they roam, or anything about trends in their health or condition. We would know nothing about their genetics or population boundaries, we’d have no idea how they used the sea ice or where they denned (it was only through collaring in Alaska that we learned some bears den on the sea ice, or at least used to). Without data on condition, reproduction, and movements, we would have little to say about the impacts of changes in sea ice to polar bears. We’d also have less to say about the potential risks offshore industrial activities pose. Lastly, we would have no idea how many bears are in certain populations, or absent that, population trends in specific regions. Without trends or numbers, biologists would be hamstrung to sustainably manage harvest and other potential disturbances.
The traditional knowledge of polar bears from Indigenous people is another important part of the information puzzle needed to understand and manage this species. People who live in the Arctic year round and travel the landscape have unique and valuable perspectives on animal behavior, and local habitat use. Like all observational data however, this information is limited in space and time. Polar bears still spend the majority of their days and nights beyond the areas where people travel, and we rely on technology to help fill in those information gaps.
Observational data is important and can give us a coarse idea of animal condition, but it is no substitute for hands-on weights, measures, and analytical sampling. Imagine a doctor trying to assess your health without careful data, or a coworker using your habits at work to define what you do when you are not at the office. The same is true for wildlife where we need a combination of techniques, and both local and scientific information to come up with the best diagnosis.
WWF International Arctic Programme polar bear specialist, Geoff York, is currently in the Chukchi Sea area with the US Fisheries and Wildlife Service, conducting research into the status of polar bear populations in the area, and is blogging for the WWF Climate blog while he is there.
Shishmaref is literally falling into the sea…
By Geoff York
As will likely be a common scene from here on out, I awake to a snowy, foggy morning. As the sea ice starts to break up, more and more water opens up and that significantly adds moisture to the near shore environment. With the right temperature and dew point combination, fog doesn’t move in, it just happens.
The weather improves enough to fly, though our fueling airplane is stuck in Kotzebue due to local weather conditions down there. We gear up and head out to the southwest in the direction of the village of Shishmaref, though we will remain far offshore. You may have heard of this town as it became famous during recent discussions on the impacts of climate warming to people in the north.
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It does not take long before we find our first bear …
Thursday, April 22, 2010
By Geoff York
Although far from clear, sunny, or warm, the weather is definitely improved when I look outside around 7 AM. After a little breakfast, I head up to our makeshift office and we make a plan to launch around 10 AM. Today we will head around 120 kilometres to the northeast.
The large lead (area of open water in the sea ice) that existed just offshore from our camp has closed overnight. The ice in the Chukchi Sea is very dynamic, even in the middle of winter. This part of the Chukchi is always ice free in the summer, so everything we are flying over and working on is first year or newer ice and typically not much more than 2 metres thick. Leads are constantly forming and closing and as the season winds to a close next week, the ice should really start to fragment and simply begin melting.
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Alaska/Chukotka walrus and polar bear community exchanges
In early February, WWF and the US Fish and Wildlife Service partnered to facilitate community-based meetings between village conservation leaders from Chukotka, Russia and Alaskan communities along the Chukchi Sea coast. Although the people who live across the Chukchi Sea from each other are relatively close in miles, our Chukchi partners had to travel around the world to reach the other side and meet their neighbors for the first time.
For WWF, this was also an opportunity to highlight the work of the Chukchi Umky Patrol Program we support in Russia, a grassroots effort to minimise negative polar bear human interactions. The Umky program has, in addition, cultivated efforts to eliminate poaching and manage a relatively new problem: walrus hauling out near villages in huge numbers. Continue reading
COP15: The Ice Bear cometh
During the December climate negotiations, a team from WWF will have an ‘Arctic Tent’ on a main Copenhagen square and we have invited lots of people to help tell the stories of arctic climate change.
In front of the tent, we have a life sized polar bear carved from ice, created by renowned wildlife sculptor, Mark Coreth, and we have a stunning outdoor exhibit by some of the top photographers working in the Arctic today.
By Clive Tesar
At 7 this morning, Copenhagen time, a truck dropped off a huge wooden box more than 2 metres tall. It stands in one of Copenhagen’s oldest squares, the site of the original city hall, surrounded by majestic buildings. On this day it was surrounded by more as well – immediately behind the box, a collection of three sided wooden structures went up, to be topped by breathtaking photos of the Arctic, in all its splendour and fragility. Continue reading
Northeast Passage: So, what of the polar bear?
This summer, WWF is helping support two expeditions that will take on some of the world’s most difficult waters, to see first-hand the effects of Arctic climate change. One expedition is sailing across the top of Russia, a journey of 6000 nautical miles through the Northeast Passage, while another is attempting a west to east transit of the Northwest Passage, also by sailing boat, a journey of about 7,000 nautical miles.
Tom Arnbom of Sweden was on the ‘Explorer of Sweden’ though the Northeast Passage, as was WWF Arctic Programme Director Neil Hamilton for much of the trip, replaced near the end by WWF polar bear coordinator Geoff York. On the ‘Silent Sound’ Cameron Dueck of the Open Passage Expedition is filing regular stories from the Northwest passage. Come back for photos and stories throughout the summer, and follow the progress of the boats as they follow in the wake of some of history’s most intrepid explorers.
By Geoff York
“Threats to polar bears will occur at different rates and times across their range although warming-induced habitat degradation and loss are already negatively affecting polar bears in some parts of their range.” – Eric Born, Chair of the IUCN Polar Bear Specialist Group
File image of a polar bear. Photo: WWF / David Jenkins
As we cross the Gulf of Anadyr, my mind wanders back to the where it started. So what of the polar bear and the loss of sea ice? What can you or I do as individuals to really make a difference? Global climate change is such a huge and complex problem, is the situation hopeless?
Although this expedition has had encounters and experiences with many arctic species and Northern peoples, my work with WWF concerns the polar bear. The way I see it, my job is to save the Arctic, one polar bear at a time. Of all the animals we have seen, polar bears were among the least abundant, and least common. This could be a simple matter of timing as most bears should be out on the main pack ice and not on or near shore. Having also seen few ice seals, common in similar parts of Alaska, I wonder if it might be something more.
The lack of summer sea ice which made our trip possible makes life for polar bears much more difficult. As the ice recedes, bears are forced to travel far offshore in search of prey or to gamble and risk spending a summer on land as we saw near Cape Cheliuskin. 30 years of research in several parts of the Arctic have shown that polar bears prefer the near shore waters over the continental shelf, but that habitat is now missing in much of the Arctic during summer months. Staying with the pack ice also means a much longer trek for bears as the ice refreezes, for hunting, but more importantly for denning females seeking coastal habitat.
The simple solution for polar bears is to save their habitat from the worst of global warming. New research presented at the PBSG in Copenhagen this summer and to be released in a publication later this month shows that mitigating green house gas emissions, if we do it quickly and aggressively, will have a positive outcome on predicted sea ice loss and can still benefit polar bears. There is still reason to hope, and there is plenty we can all do to help.
We can contact our local, state, and national politicians and urge them to support a strong new climate treaty resulting from the upcoming meeting in Copenhagen this December. We can also ask them to support measures that will increase energy efficiency and the increased investment in and use of renewable energy. We can demand that they begin a transition away from our current, unsustainable carbon economy.
On a personal level, we can all take actions that, collectively, can make a huge difference. We can use less and recycle more. We can demand more goods made from recycled materials and from sustainable practices. We can drive less and bike more or use public transit. We can all make our homes more energy efficient with appropriate insulation, and modern low energy lighting fixtures and appliances. We can buy locally made goods whenever possible. Each act, however small, can and will make a difference.
Northeast Passage: Our polar bear expert joins the expedition
This summer, WWF is helping support two expeditions that will take on some of the world’s most difficult waters, to see first-hand the effects of Arctic climate change. One expedition is sailing across the top of Russia, a journey of 6000 nautical miles through the Northeast Passage, while another is attempting a west to east transit of the Northwest Passage, also by sailing boat, a journey of about 7,000 nautical miles.
Tom Arnbom of Sweden was on the ‘Explorer of Sweden’ though the Northeast Passage, as was WWF Arctic Programme Director Neil Hamilton for much of the trip, replaced near the end by WWF polar bear coordinator Geoff York. On the ‘Silent Sound’ Cameron Dueck of the Open Passage Expedition is filing regular stories from the Northwest passage. Come back for photos and stories throughout the summer, and follow the progress of the boats as they follow in the wake of some of history’s most intrepid explorers.
By Geoff York
WWF senior programme officer for polar bear conservation, Geoff York, with a polar bear cub
So begins my small part in the 2009 expedition to successfully sail through the Northeast Passage, retracing the route of the famous explorer Nordenskiöld. I am replacing Neil Hamilton, director of the WWF Arctic Programme, and plan to go on with this blog as the journey continues across the Laptev, Chukchi, and Bering seas!
I am the senior programme officer for polar bear conservation at WWF, and a long time Alaskan. My entries will often reflect back on matters relating to arctic wildlife and the people who rely on this resource for their livelihood and culture. This is my background, the lens from which I view this amazing part of the world we call the Arctic.
As I depart Moscow for Yakutsk, I am anxious to be in Tiksi. The boat has waited an extra day for my arrival as I was delayed by paperwork and the crew a bit ahead of schedule. I know they will be ready to keep moving east as the summer quickly draws to a close in the far North. It will take nearly nine hours of flight to reach Tiksi by tomorrow evening, and I will begin this adventure with a good dose of jetlag.
Even though temperatures are beginning to cool, the sea ice will continue to melt through mid September, and it is melting fast. From 2005-2008, temperatures in the central Arctic were 5 C above the level expected. The summer sea ice extent has decreased by 40 percent since the 70s, forcing walrus to abandon prime feeding areas and leaving polar bears to choose between a summer on the distant ice or on land, neither of which is their preferred habitat (more on that later). Significant permafrost, ice sheet, and glacial melting have also already taken place. These changes are driven by greenhouse gas emissions – a byproduct of our modern lives.
Due to the reductions in sea ice extent driven by climate change, it is now possible to challenge the Northeast Passage by small sailboat without the support of an icebreaker. This is perhaps one of the last times such an expedition will be a real challenge. In the future, the melting ice will make sailing through the Passage easier and easier, and not just for small boats. Decreasing sea ice extent and thinning of the ice will open up the Arctic for unprecedented increases in transport, tourism and resource development in this vulnerable region.
As I race to meet the crew in Tiksi, I know we are all also in a race for the survival of our planet as we now know it today. In a few short months, the nations of the world will come together in Copenhagen to negotiate a new deal on climate change. This will be a crucial first step of many needed to ensure we collectively and quickly reduce our green house gas emissions, aggressively develop renewable sources of energy, and challenge ourselves to live sustainably in all aspects of our lives. Much like our sailing expedition, this will require careful planning and there will be many uncertainties along the way. Stabilising the global climate will require extraordinary commitment by all of us and it will not be easy.
I hope you will join me on both adventures starting today.
Tracking the Beaufort bears: Day 15
WWF’s polar bear coordinator, Geoff York, keeps up his field knowledge with trips out onto the ice to check on the condition of the bears. This year, he is keeping a daily blog of his experiences over two weeks. Keep visiting this blog for regular updates and live the life of a polar bear biologist.
By Geoff York
I am the first one up and start two pots of good strong coffee. A graduate student from the University of Wyoming flew in yesterday as my replacement for the last day of capture from Kaktovik and the crew’s pending move to Deadhorse. It’s going home day for me, so I am having an extra burst of energy and decide to make waffles for the gang. Between the smells of coffee and breakfast, a few weary eyes start appearing around the kitchen table. It is another bluebird day, though the winds will continue to make it a little uncomfortable on the ground.
The crew readies for a long day out on the ice while I catch up with laundry and get my gear ready to fly south. I also start packing up the extra capture gear, food, and miscellaneous supplies and begin cleaning up the bunkhouse. The team will depart Kaktovik tomorrow as well, spending the balance of this season working along the Central coast from Deadhorse. They will have their hands full tomorrow morning, so I do what I can to make their jobs a little easier.
The day passes quickly tying up loose ends and I am on a south bound flight by late afternoon. When I step off the small plane in Fairbanks, I am surprised by the warmth. By comparison to the past two weeks spent at -20 C, often with winds, 8 degrees of calm sunny weather feels like summer! Once again, I have travelled in time by flying south and have gone from winter to spring in an hour and thirty minute long flight. I sit outside on a bench between flights and just enjoy the sun and view of the Alaska Range to the south of town.
I will miss the polar bear research crew, the frozen ice, the ice bears, and Kaktovik- until we meet again.
Tracking the Beaufort bears: Day 14
WWF’s polar bear coordinator, Geoff York, keeps up his field knowledge with trips out onto the ice to check on the condition of the bears. This year, he is keeping a daily blog of his experiences over two weeks. Keep visiting this blog for regular updates and live the life of a polar bear biologist.
By Geoff York
Blue sky morning! Light winds out of the east and temperatures are still hovering around -20 C. We plan to launch at half past 9 and set about preparing food and gear for a long day. When the weather allows, we can spend nearly 11 hours out on the ice, so everyone packs a lunch, a variety of snacks, and something to drink. Working in the cold definitely increases your caloric demand!
We file a flight plan to work the northwest this morning and launch. This will be my last day out on the ice, and it is shaping up to be a good one as we encounter a lone male just 10 miles out from Barter Island. We are safely on the ground with our sedated male by 10 AM and are back out searching within an hour. He is a known bear and in good condition.
As we fly out to where we had seen the yearlings and sow yesterday, we hit on a great set of tracks- a breeding pair. We end up following these tracks for over an hour as they make a frenzied spaghetti “pattern” over a 6 km radius. A few other single bears also cross through the scene, but in the end, we cannot find the track makers. We fly out about a mile from this intensively tracked area and do a circle to see where tracks are leaving. We see nothing, so we make a few more passes, but theses bears evade detection today. Breeding pairs can be notoriously difficult as they are often not moving in a directional manner or following habitat.
We decide to abandon this area and are soon on a set of single tracks which lead to another lone male. I remark that I would be happy to work with lone males all day as we settle in and work through this capture. He is marked and again in good condition, save for a few bite marks and scratches- common during mating season. Once we are aloft, it is time to head in for more fuel.
After “feeding” the helicopter, I decide to head due north and search more to the east as this will be our second to last day in this part of Alaska. We come across an active lead system about 56 km offshore. You can see steam rising from the open water and the leads are quickly skimming over. The winds are also clearly picking up from the east and you can see some snow drifting on the surface. We head east on the lead and start noticing a couple of sets of tracks, though they appear old. After about 35 minutes of flying, we learn that the drifting snow is simply making the tracks look old as we encounter another lone male. This guy is a new bear and an older one by the looks of his worn and stained teeth. He weighs in at 480 kg and appears very stout. He also shows signs of the breeding season with a few puncture wounds and one good cut on his side. Luckily bears seem to heal quickly! We capture him in a flat pan of newer ice and it is almost entirely flat. The lack of rough ice and the winds make for a fairly bitter processing on the ground and we all have to take breaks to re-warm our numb fingers from time to time.
It is already early evening when we lift off and continue our work, so I decide to head south east. After a bit of flying without success, we come across a good set of tracks and begin to follow them. This bear is heading to Canada and the same area we had so much luck with earlier in the season. About 10 miles west of the border, we find yet another lone male. I should have been careful what I asked for earlier in the day as it is always nice to encounter a range of bear genders and groups.
The capture is routine, but it is already past 7 PM when we begin our processing on the ground. This time we are in a perfect little pan of ice about 12 m in diameter and surrounded by a tall jumble of ice. The wind protection makes the work much more comfortable and we are happy to see that this is a marked bear as processing will be fairly fast. We are a happy crew as we depart the last bear of the day and make for Kaktovik. It is a beautiful evening for a sunset flight over the sea ice and the evening light is perfect. We land at 8:40 PM and I finally get to bed around midnight.