Sea Ice For My Neighbor, Pat!

     After one glorious day off, it was back to work in the field surveying the arctic landscape.  James and I surveyed the tundra and the forest ecotone.  All the team members seemed a little lethargic from the amazing events from yesterday, that there wasn’t much laughter today.  We were given an early day off and headed back to the research center.  We were able to work on our Northrup Grumman lesson plans and community action plans.  More field work tomorrow!

     To answer Pat’s question… the difference between an ice floe and glacier… A glacier are considered land ice because they form on land.    An ice floe is sea ice that forms in the water.  Here at the Hudson Bay, we can see the sea ice travel in and out of the bay daily.  The sea ice “grows” in the winter in the northern part of the bay, and breaks up and melts in the summer.  This is the ice that the polar bears “ride on” to get  the Churchill, Manitoba.

     Currents bring the sea ice to the shores of Churchill carrying the bears.  As the ice travels south down Hudson Bay, it breaks up and melts.  However, according to the scientists at this study center, the sea ice is melting earlier than it normally does, and this gives the bears less time to hunt seals. (They hunt for seals out on the ice then come to shore.) The bears are coming into Churchill thinner and less able to survive the summer… (and more likely to harass locals by getting in garbage and breaking into homes…)  Hopefully this makes sense… this is being typed by your “tundra tired” neighbor!  Here is a picture of me and some fellow Earthwatchers standing on a chunk of sea ice (a sea floe) that has "beached".  Thanks for following me!