NASA Data Reveals How Climate Change Impacts Arctic Marine Mammals

What does the future hold for Arctic marine mammals like polar bears? That's a good question. Now scientists have looked at 11 species of marine mammals who depend on Arctic sea ice to live, feed and breed and have examined how their habitat will evolve in a warming world.

The Arctic sea ice cover naturally grows in the fall and winter and melts during the spring and summer each year. Over the past decades, though, the melt season has grown longer and the average extent of Arctic sea ice has shrunk. This, in turn, has changed species' chances for survival.

In this latest study, the researcher used the Arctic sea ice record derive from microwave measurements taken by NASA and Department of Defense satellites. This record began in late 1978 and relies on NASA-developed methods for processing the microwave data.

"Sea ice is critical for arctic marine mammals because events such as feeding, giving birth, molting and resting are closely timed with the availability of their ice platform," said Kristin Laidre, one of the researchers, in a news release. "It is especially critical for the ice-dependent species-seals and polar bears. Ice seals use the sea ice platform to give birth and nurse pups during very specific weeks of the spring, and polar bears use sea ice for feeding ,starting in late winter and continuing until the ice breaks up."

The researchers have found that the loss of sea ice has actually resulted in walrus hauling out on land in Alaska and Russia in massive numbers. This often results in the trampling of their young. In the case of Arctic whales, thought, the changes in sea ice might actually benefit their populations by opening up new habitat.

"For example, we know that narwhals congregate in specific areas of the Arctic in the wintertime, so maybe a higher spatial resolution in these areas might help us better understand their relationship with the ice," said Harry Stern, one of the researchers. "But mainly, just continuing daily coverage is what's important for the long-term monitoring of habitat changes."

The findings reveal that the changing ice may drastically impact these species. Continued monitoring is needed in order to better target conservation efforts.

The findings are published in the journal Conservation Biology.

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