#arctic

#arctic

Polar Bear Hunting a Reindeer Caught on Film for the First TimeIn August 2020, a biologist named Izabela Kulaszewicz, together with the other scientists from the University of Gdańsk, hurried outside as she received a message that a polar bear was spotted. The scientists were stationed at the Polish Polar Station Hornsund on Norway’s Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic Ocean.This is an unexpected sighting. Luckily, the cook at the research station was able to film everything: a chunky female polar bear was sniffing the air and walking towards the coast, dipping in the tundra, and then galloping towards several reindeers on the shoreline. The bull went to the sea but the polar bear was able to catch and kill it. The reindeer was dead in less than a minute.Kulaszewicz and the rest of the team were shocked because polar bears usually hunt seals. Polar bear’s behavior of hunting of reindeer, however, has long been assumed especially because of climate change. To be able to survive, polar bears would have to adjust to the changing environment which forced them to hunt and eat those that they do not usually eat such as bird eggs, rodents, trash, and landfills.#polarbear #reindeer #arctic #tundra

Scientists Discover World’s Northernmost IslandDespite what you've heard about Santa Claus, the North Pole is in the middle of the Arctic Ocean. The only reason explorers could walk to it is because it used to be covered with ice most of the time. That raises the question of what landform is the closest to the pole, and the answer is a newly-discovered small island off the coast of Greenland. Once buried in ice, it was spotted last month by researchers who were collecting samples. They did not realize it was the world's northernmost island until they checked their latitude calculations later.The small island, measuring roughly 30 metres (100ft) across and a peak of about 3 metres, consists of seabed mud as well as moraine – soil and rock left behind by moving glaciers. The team said they would recommend it is named “Qeqertaq Avannarleq”, which means “the northernmost island” in Greenlandic.Several US expeditions in the area have in recent decades searched for the world’s northernmost island. In 2007, Arctic veteran Dennis Schmitt discovered a similar island close by.The scientists said that although the new island was exposed by shifting pack ice, its appearance now was not a direct consequence of global warming, which has been shrinking Greenland’s ice sheet.Say it with me now- “Qeqertaq Avannarleq.” Before officially declaring it an island, geographers must observe whether it stays above the surface at high tide. Read more about the discovery at The Guardian. -via Damn Interesting#Arctic #island #latitude #Greenland