Svalbard Polar Bears Maintain Condition Amid Ice Loss

A new study reveals that polar bears in the Svalbard archipelago have maintained or even improved their physical condition amid rapid sea ice loss in the Barents Sea, challenging expectations for the species amid climate change. Researchers from the Norwegian Polar Institute analyzed body measurements from 770 adult bears captured between 1992 and 2019, finding that the animals' body condition index, a measure of fat reserves and overall health, increased after 2000 despite the region's ice-free season lengthening by more than 100 days annually.

The Barents Sea, surrounding the Norwegian islands about 500 miles north of mainland Norway, has warmed at a rate of up to 2 degrees Celsius per decade since 1980, more than twice as fast as other polar bear habitats. Sea ice, essential for the bears to hunt seals, now persists for over two months less each year than it did in the 1990s. Lead researcher Jon Aars, a polar bear ecologist at the Norwegian Polar Institute, had anticipated declining health for the population. Instead, the bears showed resilience, recovering from an earlier dip in condition observed in the late 1990s.

Scientists tracked the bears using helicopters, sedating...