Surveillance of drifting ice must be improved in order keep an eye on polar bears.
The spread of drifting ice from Greenland has been increasing so more bears could be in the waters between Iceland and Greenland.
According to meteorologist Thor Jakobsson, more polar bears could be on ice drifting between Iceland and Greenland. The ice has been widespread since the beginning of the summer, although the drifting ice is still far from the cost of Iceland. Fréttabladid reports.
He also points out that sometimes the drifting ice has been just a few miles off the coast without any bears reaching the shore. “The drifting ice is usual for this time of year, but something unusual has happened since it seems to carry so many polar bears” Jakobsson said. “My suggestion is that the main ice has not been solid or continuous so the bears have been so unlucky to get isolated on drifting ice and gotten so close to Iceland that they decided to go for the last miles by swimming.”
“Since two bears have already reached the shore, more could be on the way but there’s no telling whether this trend will continue in the coming years” Jakobson said.
“Surveillance of the drifting ice must be improved. It has obviously not been taken good care of. Thin and filmy ice can easily reach over the canal between Greenland and Iceland but cannot be spotted from satellite, so planes must fly over the area regularly to locate the ice and identify the polar bears. It is better to know if they are on the way,” Jakobson said.
