ICE EDGE RETREAT DUE TO CLIMATE CHANGE COULD BE DISASTROUS FOR WALRUSES, SEABIRDS AND OTHER ARCTIC WILDLIFE

26 October 1998

Fairbanks, Alaska - As many of the world's leading Arctic scientists gather in Fairbanks, Alaska for a major Arctic science conference(1), two biologists who participated in a Greenpeace expedition to the ice-edge in the Arctic ocean rep ort that global warming is impacting Arctic wildlife.

Along with their research teams, Dr. Brendan Kelly of the School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences at the University of Alaska , and Dr. George Divoky, an ornithologist at the Institute of Arctic Biology at the University of Alaska, joined the Greenpeac e icebreaker 'Arctic Sunrise' last month on a survey of marine mammals and seabirds, focusing on the Pacific walrus and the Black Guillemot. The expedition followed the edge of the Arctic pack ice between Alaska and Russia's Chukotka Region. The ice-edge was very much further north than usual, with potentially dire consequences for the study animals. The retreat of the Arctic ice pack is one of the consequences of the rapid warming of the western Arctic region over the past 30-40 years, and the retreat in the 1998 summer season has been extreme, with the ice edge at least 150 nautical miles north of Point Barrow, Alaska, when the ice edge is more normally at or at most a few tens of miles from Barrow.

Dr. George Divoky has been studying Black Guillemot in the Arctic for more than 20 years. Because the birds nest on shore but rely wholly on food which is at the ice edge, the warmer temperatures and retreating sea ice have a direct effect on their abi lity to survive. Their numbers were quite healthy throughout the 70s and 80s, but have declined dramatically in the 90s, as was borne out by the recent survey conducted on Greenpeace's Arctic Sunrise.

"Black Guillemot are like the proverbial canary in the coal mine. Birds that are dependent on or constrained by snow and ice habitats are an excellent indicator of climate change because the effects of warming on these habitats are direct and immediat e, unlike species occupying more diverse habitats that will respond more slowly to climate change. The guillemots are trying to tell us that Arctic Alaska has changed greatly in the last 30 years, and more changes are on the way." Satellite observations already indicate a decrease in the extent of ice cover of nearly three percent per decade since the late 1970s, with the rate of loss accelerating this decade. As the burning of fossil fuels continues unabated and the planet contin ues to warm, the Arctic pack ice is predicted to continue thinning and retreating. This could spell disaster for walrus and guillemot populations as well as other ice-dependent species in the Arctic.

Walruses haul out on ice to rest, molt and bear their young. Males can weigh close to two tons -- about the weight of a pickup truck -- while females can weigh nearly one ton. As sea ice thins, it is less able to support the weight of a single walrus o r group of walruses, resulting in a loss of critical habitat. In addition, walruses feed almost exclusively on mollusks and other invertebrates that live on the sea floor. As the ice-edge retreats beyond the continental shelf waters of the Chukchi Sea, t he water could be too deep for walruses to dive for food.

"Walrus rely on the ice for feeding, resting, and nursing their young. With the ice edge so much further north than usual, it's over deeper water, and it makes it much more difficult for the nursing mothers and their young to reach the clams and other organisms on the seabed which they rely on for food," said Dr. Kelly, who has been studying the Pacific walrus and other marine mammals in this region for more than 20 years. "From what we've seen on this trip, the walrus cow to calf ratio is much lower t han we would like to see, and if the trend continues, we will definitely see a decline in the population. That may very well be due to the retreat of the ice."

For the past several years, Greenpeace has been working with scientists specializing in impacts of climate change at the polar regions, where models predict the most dramatic early impacts of global warming. "Facilitating the work of respected Arctic b iologists with our ship and logistical capabilities is one way we can help tell the world about the dramatic impacts of global warming already apparent in the western Arctic, "said Melanie Duchin, Greenpeace climate campaigner who accompanied the ice-edge expedition last month. "We cannot afford to burn more than 1/4 of the reserves of fossil fuels that have already been identified if we are to avoid dangerous climate change, and the work of these scientists shows even more clearly why governments must ta ke action now to stop climate change."

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Dr. George Divoky, Fairbanks - +1 (907) 474-7640
Dr. Brendan Kelly, Juneau - +1 (907) 465-6510
Melanie Duchin, Fairbanks - +1 (907) 440-5048
Steve Sawyer, Amsterdam - +31 (6) 53504715

- Climate Change and Arctic Sea Ice: http://www.greenpeace.org/~climate/arctic/reports/seaice3.html

(1)The American Association for the Advancement of Science - 49th Arctic Science Conference: "International Cooperation in Arctic Research: Detecting Global Change and Its Impacts in the Western Arctic". University of Alaska Fairbanks, October 25-28, 1998. For further info see: http://www.gi.alaska.edu/aaas/