The archipelago of Svalbard in the Barents Sea has a distinct Arctic micro-climate. Located off the east coast of Greenland, and also known as Spitsbergen, it is fed by the warm, salty West Spitsbergen Current. As a result of this recent natural warming from the sea, Svalbard has increased its summer sea ice-free days by up to four times more than all other areas in the Arctic. Just the place for Sir David Attenborough and his team to turn up with their cameras as they seek to persuade us that polar bears are facing an existential threat to their existence. Less summer sea ice means less opportunity to hunt for seal food.
The distinguished polar bear scientist Dr. Susan Crockford notes that Svalbard is not representative of the Arctic in general. A 2016 paper by the ecologist Eric Regehr showed that the area around Svalbard was unusually warm compared to other locations. He produced the three graphs below to show this, and noted that the Barents Sea ice decline measured in increased ice-free days lost per year was six times higher than Hudson Bay, home of the most southerly sub-population of polar bears.
Read more: “Propaganda Marketed as Entertainment”: Polar Bear Scientist Slams Attenborough’s Frozen Planet II
