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Archive for May, 2009


Returning Home

By John Whiteman · May 26, 2009 · comments 6 comments
LARAMIE, WYOMING-- During last week, the weather steadily turned from cold and overcast to warm and sunny. On the first day of good conditions we launched in the morning and captured a bear shortly thereafter... {Read More »}


How Fat Is a Polar Bear?

By John Whiteman · May 15, 2009 · comments No comments yet
DEADHORSE, ALASKA-- In the last dispatch, I wrote of polar bears getting by without food. In that situation – no food – the bears must be using body stores of fat for energy. Some bears can carry almost 50% of their body mass as fat... {Read More »}


Pure as the Driven Snow

By Exploratorium Crew · May 8, 2009 · comments 2 comments
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA -- (By Lisa Strong-Aufhauser) Even the snow on top of the Greenland ice sheet is not as pure as you’d think. Dr. Joe McConnell from the Desert Research Institute in Reno, Nevada, studies the impurities... {Read More »}


Getting By Without Food

By John Whiteman · May 8, 2009 · comments 3 comments
DEADHORSE, ALASKA-- Polar bears specialize in hunting seals and seals provide most, if not all, of the polar bear diet. During summer, some bears... {Read More »}


Springtime in the Arctic

By John Whiteman · May 1, 2009 · comments 7 comments
DEADHORSE, ALASKA-- Spring has arrived in this part of the Arctic. In the last ten days, temperatures have risen from -20 to +45 Fahrenheit –… {Read More »}


The End of Our Cruise

By Maria Vernet · May 1, 2009 · comments No comments yet
PUNTA ARENAS, CHILE-- Late last night we arrived at Punta Arenas, Chile. This marks the end of our Iceberg 3 cruise. We have finished analyzing the samples, re-calibrating instruments and we are now ready to start packing... {Read More »}