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Surviving melting ice

A recent U. S. Geological Survey study—using data from WHOI and other sources—determined that climate change in the Arctic is dramatically reducing polar bears’ survival and reproductive rates. The study concluded that melting Arctic ice is a critical threat to the bears’ survival. Polar bears need ice as a platform to hunt for seals, their main food source. These polar bears—a mother and her two cubs—were sighted and photographed by Polar Discovery photographer Chris Linder aboard the Swedish research vessel Oden in the Arctic Ocean.(Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)