Milder winters: bad for polar mammals

Posted on 20. February 2013 by Rolf Stange

Milder winter weather with rain instead of snow is nothing completely new for polar areas with a maritime climate such as Spitsbergen, but there is more of it in times of climate change, a tendency expected to increase in the future. Rain that freezes to ice on cold ground during an already difficult season has always been difficult for reindeer, and an increased frequency of such events will make their already challenging life certainly not easier.

Pregnant female polar bears need slopes with good snow cover in the early polar night and good hunting grounds on sea ice in spring. Both, but especially the latter, may be lacking more and more frequently in the future with a changing climate.

Spitsbergen-reindeer in late winter. Early May 2010, Eskerdalen.

Source: NINA

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