This morning at breakfast we received word that we were within 20 miles of the last known location of a bear we are targeting for capture. Over the previous 24 hours we had cruised through several hundred miles of open water, and we hoped to be approaching the edge of the retreated sea ice; however, with only 20 miles between us and the bear, it was only open water in sight. We cannot dart a bear on small pieces of ice with much open water in the area – there is a possibility that a bear may run into the water to swim away, which is dangerous if the animal is going under the anesthetic. However, by the end of breakfast ice had been spotted, and we were still hopeful.

By 9am I went up to the bridge to see what the conditions looked like and await the daily flight briefing. This far north and west, sunrise is late – official sunrise today at our location was 947am. Thus the bridge was still dark and all the lights were dim red. This provides enough light for crew members to perform their jobs but it doesn’t force their eyes to adjust to bright light, which reduces their vision in the dark. Two huge floodlights lit the path in front of the icebreaker. Loose pieces of newly-formed ice, most no larger than several feet across, gently rolled over waves, but there was no thick ice in sight. As we moved west by southwest the ice seemed to get a little thicker so the flight briefing went on as planned and by just about dawn, the first helicopter launched.

The helicopter deck of the ship. To the right is the hangar. After landing, temporary wheels are attached to the skids of each helicopter and they are rolled from this deck into the hangar.

The first helicopter, carrying scientists from USGS and USFWS, radio-tracked our target bear and made visual contact. Unfortunately, the bear was standing on a piece of thick ice around 15 meters across, which was much too small for a safe darting operation. The helicopter gained altitude and scouted the surrounding area but did not see any promising ice. They returned to the ship and we had to make the decision to forego this bear and start cruising towards the next animal. Temperatures have been hovering in the low 30s (Fahrenheit), which is simply too warm for much formation of new ice. We need our bears to move onto thicker ice, or for the temperatures to drop so the new ice increases in thickness. The next target bear is over 100 miles to the north and seems to be quite a distance in from the ice edge, hopefully on thick ice remaining from last winter.

As we began cruising north from the location with poor ice, the ice immediately became thicker. Looking aft from the helicopter deck, we are leaving a trail of open water through about 3-6 inches of sea ice. By now I could walk across the ice and in an emergency, a helicopter could probably land on it. However, conditions still are not good enough for a capture operation.

As we began cruising north I took my lunch to a port-side lower deck and watched the ice go by; almost immediately, it began getting thicker. By evening we will be in position to launch for the next bear, but we will not have enough daylight. Thus we plan to launch at dawn tomorrow, and we hope to find thick ice from last winter to work on.

Standing on the bow of the boat you can hear the ice breaking; up to now, it has mostly been a gentle swish of thin ice getting pushed underwater. Turning around, you are faced with this imposing wall topped by the bridge.

About twelve hours after receiving the phone call, I had dropped all other plans and I was on a plane to Alaska. Within several days we mobilized two helicopters and pilots up to the coast, rounded up all the necessary gear, and performed the capture near Kaktovik. After examining the bear closely, fortunately, she was not in ill health and she was not experiencing any complications from previous sampling. Although it is difficult to know, it seems she simply had a tough spring, perhaps due to poor hunting success or other factors.

I did not return to Laramie until the following Monday, after missing the first week of classes on campus. I was very happy that the safety of Kaktovik residents and of the bear had not been jeopardized, but it was certainly a reminder of the important complexities involved with studying polar bears on the north slope.

Today, as I write this, I have about two hours to finish packing before departing for Barrow, Alaska. My advisor Dr. Hank Harlow and I will arrive in Barrow tomorrow night at about 7:15 pm, where it will be around 25 to 30 degrees (Fahrenheit) and hopefully with a little snow on the ground. My co-advisor, Dr. Merav Ben-David, will arrive the following morning, and eventually a total of about 20 personnel will show up. The group includes our collaborators from USGS and USFWS, a photographer, a film crew, a high school teacher, and several other Arctic-based research groups. The other projects are varied, focusing on primary production in sea water, algal growth on the underside of sea ice, and sea birds and mammals. All 20 personnel will be ferried onto the USCG icebreaker Polar Sea via helicopter, hopefully on Saturday. Once onboard, we will cruise towards the edge of the sea ice, about 400 miles north of Barrow.

Every year, the sea ice reaches it minimum extent around mid-September, and this year’s minimum appears to have occurred on September 12th. The National Snow and Ice Data Center has posted a map and description here; from this point on, the ice will be expanding as temperatures drop below freezing across the Arctic. Thus, as we cruise north, the ice will be slowly expanding south towards us.

The website Cryosphere Today has a color-coded map depicting current sea ice conditions, shown below. Remarkably, the three smallest minimum extents during the era of satellite measurements – beginning 1979 – are 2009, 2008, and 2007. In other words, the Arctic has had less ice in the last three summers than in any other summer since 1979.

Arctic sea ice conditions as of September 22, 2009.

I am very excited about working from the icebreaker. It is an incredibly rare opportunity to not only get a sense of the far northern sea ice environment, but also to collect valuable data from a important species that is so strongly associated with it.