Published in Atlantica No. 4. 2008, July-August. By Jonas Moody, photo by Páll Stefánsson.
There are fewer things that can better wake you up in the morning than the smell of coffee, the warm sunshine streaming in through your window and the hungry polar bear growling outside your bedroom. But there are no polar bears in Iceland, right? Wrong. While the bears may not be indigenous to the region, they have been arriving on Iceland’s shores for centuries.
So how are those beasts of the Arctic getting there? They are known to unwittingly hitch a ride from nearby Greenland on chunks of sea ice that drift to Iceland’s northern coast. There are over 600 documented cases of polar bears dropping by for a visit, and already this year two bears have made it to Iceland.
Some claim the bear come because the ice caps are melting, but sea ice has been the bane of Icelanders for years. In addition to providing polar bears with passage from Greenland, sea ice blocks shipping lanes, closes down ports, cripples the fishing industry and can significantly lower the temperature of the island.
The Sea Ice Center in the northern town of Blönduós features an exhibition on Iceland’s historic struggle with sea ice, which includes a stuffed polar bear that was unlucky enough to float over. Housed in one of the oldest timber buildings in Iceland, the small museum also presents information on the effects of global warming on sea ice and how Icelanders are dealing with the melting ice caps.
According to Prof. Trausti Valsson from the University of Iceland, global warming could leave the Arctic Ocean ice-free in summers by 2040, so you’d better hurry to the little red house in Blönduós before all the sea ice melts. Just watch out for polar bears along the way.