Distribution of Polar Bear Sea Ice Habitat in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas, 1989-1992: An Animation

This animation illustrates how the distribution of polar bear habitat changes as the sea ice retreats and advances with the changing seasons. Higher quality habitats are depicted with lighter shades of gray. The continental shelf is denoted by a 300-meter depth contour (light-blue line).

Data for this animation are from 1989-1992. Locations of adult female polar bears obtained by U.S. Geological Survey satellite radio-tracking studies are shown as red dots. Individual polar bears may have been re-located up to 10 times per month. Because polar bears and the ice pack both move on a daily basis, some spatial disparities between the ice and bear distributions are introduced in the monthly-composited illustrations shown here. Estimates of habitat quality were derived using resource selection functions (RSFs). Here, the monthly RSF values of habitat quality throughout the Arctic Ocean were partitioned into 20 equal-area zones, and the top-10 zones were gray-shaded from dark to light.

Source: U.S. Geological Survey, based on Durner, G.M., D.C. Douglas, R.M. Nielson, S.C. Amstrup, T.L. McDonald, I. Stirling, M. Mauritzen, E.W. Born, O. Wiig, E. DeWeaver, M.C. Serreze, S.E. Belikov, M.M. Holland, J. Maslanlik, J. Aars, D.A. Bailey, and A.E. Derocher. 2009. Predicting 21st-century polar bear habitat distribution from global climate models. Ecological Monographs 79:25–58.

For further information contact: David C. Douglas U.S. Geological Survey ddouglas@usgs.gov

Data and Resources

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