Academia, Animals, Environment, Science

Scientists Find 35,000 Walrus Stranded In Alaska Due To Receding Ice Flows

Walrus_alaska

This extraordinary picture from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has many scientists worried as the latest sign of climate change. These are estimated 35,000 pacific walrus ashore on a beach in north-west Alaska. As mammals, walrus cannot swim indefinitely so they use their tusks to “haul out,” or pull themselves onto an ice floe or rocks. However, the loss of sea ice has left them effectively stranded.

220px-Noaa-walrus22The photo was taken five miles north of Point Lay, an Inupiat Eskimo village 300 miles southwest of Barrow and 700 miles northwest of Anchorage. It was taken on September 27th as researchers traced walrus. Female walrus give birth on sea ice and use ice as a diving platform to reach snails, clams and worms on the shallow continental shelf.

As temperatures warm in summer, the edge of the sea ice recedes north. Females and their offspring ride the edge of the sea ice into the Chukchi Sea. However, sea ice has receded now beyond shallow continental shelf waters and into Arctic Ocean water. The problem is that depths at that location exceeds two miles — a depth that walrus cannot dive to the bottom.

The World Wildlife Fund’s head of Arctic programs Margaret Williams says that the gathering show extreme environmental changes occurring wit the loss of sea ice. The comparison is with the plight of polar bears in the changing Arctic.

Source: Independent

153 thoughts on “Scientists Find 35,000 Walrus Stranded In Alaska Due To Receding Ice Flows”

  2. “The cold waters of Earth’s deep ocean have not warmed measurably since 2005, according to a new NASA study, leaving unsolved the mystery of why global warming appears to have slowed in recent years.”

    “In the 21st century, greenhouse gases have continued to accumulate in the atmosphere, just as they did in the 20th century, but global average surface air temperatures have stopped rising in tandem with the gases. The temperature of the top half of the world’s oceans — above the 1.24-mile mark — is still climbing, but not fast enough to account for the stalled air temperatures.”

    “Many processes on land, air and sea have been invoked to explain what is happening to the “missing” heat. One of the most prominent ideas is that the bottom half of the ocean is taking up the slack, but supporting evidence is slim. ”

    Can read more here http://www.nasa.gov/press/2014/october/nasa-study-finds-earth-s-ocean-abyss-has-not-warmed/

  3. Help from a moderator, please. My comment was blocked by WordPress.

    Tried to change one word in a second try, but it was eaten too.

  4. Dredd, which would be more important to Walruses: ice extent or ice volume?

    This year, the Northwest Passage remained closed by ice. Some parts of the Arctic had more ice, and some parts had less, but the overall extent was greater than it was in 2012, 2011, and 2010. It is less than the 1981-2010 average.

    http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/

    Meanwhile, to the south, the Antarctic has reached its 35 year high in having the most ice ever, which baffles climate scientists who wonder how such ice expansion can happen in a warming world.

    Always remember that there are three types of lies:

    “Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics.”
    This year, the Northwest Passage remained closed by ice. Some parts of the Arctic had more ice, and some parts had less, but the overall extent was greater than it was in 2012, 2011, and 2010. It is less than the 1981-2010 average.

    http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/

    Meanwhile, to the south, the Antarctic has reached its 35 year high in having the most ice ever, which baffles climate scientists who wonder how such ice expansion can happen in a warming world.

    Always remember that there are three types of lies:

    “Lies, Dam*ed Lies, and Statistics.”

  5. Dredd, which would be more important to Walruses: ice extent or ice volume?

    This year, the Northwest Passage remained closed by ice. Some parts of the Arctic had more ice, and some parts had less, but the overall extent was greater than it was in 2012, 2011, and 2010. It is less than the 1981-2010 average.

    http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/

    Meanwhile, to the south, the Antarctic has reached its 35 year high in having the most ice ever, which baffles climate scientists who wonder how such ice expansion can happen in a warming world.

    Always remember that there are three types of lies:

    “Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics.”

      1. Thanks, Darren. I appreciate it.

        Only the one at 12:51 is needed. I tried to edit the bad word in the one at 12:53, but it looks like the entire post duplicated first. Weird.

  6. Science, like the climate, changes. In the 70’s the States of Washington and Oregon were going to be glaciers due to global cooling (it was on the cover of Time Magazine). Al Gore says Polar Bears are at risk. The people who count them say there are more than ever. I learned something recently, the amount of water on Earth is the same, it just moves around. It’s kept on Earth as we are, gravity. It evaporates into clouds, clouds move, it rains somewhere else. There is nothing we can do to change that. My problem is when politicians get involved and start spending my tax dollars, I get suspicious, very suspicious. The politicians get involved because it gives them power and control. Then come laws that deny property rights. And we have too many of those already. Instead of laws, how about incentives? Tax credits every year you use solar power, not just when you install. The same for high-mileage cars. Low water usage, again every year. Tax breaks for improvements to any building to lower usage of power. Let us use OUR money, and our strength (DIY) to do these things. No conferences, no bills in Congress. Encourage use of environment-friendly materials. Tax credits for the time you donate to help others improving their homes. I believe the people can do these things better than government. I’d like to see companies building desalinization plants, tax free. And most of all, get rid of the EPA!

  10. Why would walrus need ice or snow when all they want to do is get on land, and off the water, or ice?

    1. Max-1 – as we found out with the inheretance of characteristics from the mother’s former lovers, science is never settled. 🙂 You could be the twinkle in your mom’s boyfriend’s eye. 😉

  13. Nick
    You bow @ the altar of “settled Scientologists and condescend to people who have lived off the land and sea for millennium. The condescension is what makes my skin crawl.
    = = =
    Why exemplify this condescension?
    Aboriginal Peoples have been clear on the matter.
    They side with the settled science.

  14. Nick Spinelli
    Weather is cyclical. Go to the Utah canyons. The rock strata shows where that currently arid region was an icecap, ocean, jungle, over the span of the earth. Dinosaurs roamed the area.
    = = =
    And baby Jesus rode a Triceratop.

    Sorry Nick, you lose. Were modern humans alive during this jurassic period?

  18. Bunny
    A man made disaster by diverting the water.
    = = =
    I’m glad we agree… man made global climate change does have an effect on how humans have been farming. You’ll notice above I cite an example of a large natural body of water that has disappeared and the community left in it’s wake, waterless. Now, granted there are other factors involved in both scenarios, however I’m guessing the last 40 years of carbon pollution driving up evaporation rates haven’t helped…

  19. Nick
    I know you don’t like to ‘engage’ me but that Katharine Heyhoe clip speaks to your “fear” ad space comment… Do it out of love, instead.

  20. With Dry Taps and Toilets, California Drought Turns Desperate
    http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/03/us/california-drought-tulare-county.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=HpSum&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

    Now in its third year, the state’s record-breaking drought is being felt in many ways: vanishing lakes and rivers, lost agricultural jobs, fallowed farmland, rising water bills, suburban yards gone brown. But nowhere is the situation as dire as in East Porterville, a small rural community in Tulare County where life’s daily routines have been completely upended by the drying of wells and, in turn, the disappearance of tap water.
    (continued)

    TULARE the Phantom Lake

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