(Newswire.net — October 3, 2014) — “It is just one example of the impacts of climate change on the distribution of marine species in the ArcticPoint Lay, near where the walruses gathered.” She said.
Other large haul-outs have been reported to the west of Alaska on Russian shores, the WWF says.
A report from the National Snow and Ice Data Center on September 22 said Arctic sea ice had reached its lowest extent of the year on September 17. That is the sixth-lowest amount of Arctic sea ice on record.
“We are witnessing a slow-motion catastrophe in the Arctic,” Lou Leonard, vice president for climate change at the WWF, said in a statement last month. “As this ice dwindles, the Arctic will experience some of the most dramatic changes our generation has ever witnessed.
This loss will impact the annual migration of wildlife through the region, and change the lives of those who rely on the Arctic ecosystem for their way of life. It’s not only threatens the long-term health of walruses, but polar bear populations as well.
This year’s ice report and massive walrus haul-out come in the same month that a NOAA reported rising of a sea temperatures across North Pacific, that are 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit (3 degrees Celsius) higher than normal.
“Not since records began has the region of the North Pacific Ocean been so warm for so long,” the NOAA report says.
A heat map accompanying the NOAA report shows deep red in the Bering Sea, indicating the biggest difference from normal in that expanse of water.