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Vanishing ice and threat of extinction to polar bears - dire Arctic forecast from Fyodor Konyukhov

By 0 and 0 and 0
09 August 2021

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‘The Arctic is changing so much. I’ve witnessed global changes in the ice situation in the Arctic Ocean'. Picture: Fyodor Konyukhov

Traveller Fyodor Konyukhov has just returned from the first-ever solo Arctic Ocean expedition aboard a science station set on a chunk of drifting ice. 

He set off from the North Pole in the middle of July, and was picked up by an icebreaker eleven days later.

Fyodor’s aim was to gather samples of water to study it for micro-plastic, observe the intensity of ice melting and register weak underwater earthquakes as his station was drifting towards Greenland. 

‘I think in the next 20 years we’ll see people reaching the North Pole in summer on a sailing yacht’, Fyodor, 69, wrote today on his social media page. 

Vanishing ice and threat of extinction to polar bears - dire Arctic forecast from explorer Fyodor Konyukhov


Vanishing ice and threat of extinction to polar bears - dire Arctic forecast from explorer Fyodor Konyukhov


Vanishing ice and threat of extinction to polar bears - dire Arctic forecast from explorer Fyodor Konyukhov
'Polar bears will suffer the most. Scientists say that climate change threatens many animals in the Arctic with complete extinction. Polar bears are in the greatest danger.' Pictures: Fyodor Konyukhov


One of the world’s most renowned travellers, Fyodor, 69, said he couldn’t find old ice (that survived at least one season of melting) on which to set up the scientific station. 

‘The Arctic is changing so much,’ he said. ‘I’ve witnessed global changes in the ice situation in the Arctic Ocean. 

’90% of ice crushed by the icebreaker on the way to the North Pole was new ice formed during winter 2020-2021. 

‘My tent and the scientific station was placed on a new ice floe.’

He warned that the disappearing ice means catastrophic consequences to the largest predator in the Arctic ecosystem - the polar bear. 

Vanishing ice and threat of extinction to polar bears - dire Arctic forecast from explorer Fyodor Konyukhov


Vanishing ice and threat of extinction to polar bears - dire Arctic forecast from explorer Fyodor Konyukhov
The world-famous traveller predicts summer sailing to the North Pole in less than 20 years. Pictures: Fyodor Konyukhov


‘Polar bears will suffer the most. Scientists say that climate change threatens many animals in the Arctic with complete extinction. Polar bears are in the greatest danger, since when the area of sea ice decreases, they are forced to move to the coast, to smaller food supply’, the traveller said. 

Several days ago a helicopter had to be raised to scare seven aggressive polar bears from the northern tip of the Yamal peninsula. 

Hungry predators killed a reindeer and a dog, and refused to leave traditional reindeer herding pastures. 

The most recent encounter was flagged by Russia’s chief environmental regulator Svetlana Radionova who wrote on her social media: 'It is worrying that polar bears come to people more often.

'This is related to climate change, ice retreating, and the fact that their diet is changing: it is easier for them to rummage garbage bins than to hunt.

'There is nothing good about this; if it continues this way we will end up sending all our polar bears to zoos.’

Comments (6)

The Earth's climate is controlled by the sun, not by humans and by no means by CO2. That's the inconvenient truth. No megalomaniac billionaire, no inconceivable amount of money can change this fact. All the predictions of melting arctic, dying polar bears etc. turn out to be wrong and will continue to be wrong. Ignoring facts has never led to anything good on this planet.
Peter, Austria
24/09/2021 00:32
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I have always wanted to sail to the North Pole in the summer and one day my dream will come true.
Jared Jankov, Kotkino Коткино
13/09/2021 06:40
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Brrr… Arctic Sea Ice Melt the Lowest in 15 Years, Antarctic Sea Ice Above Average, ref.: https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/09/brrr-arctic-sea-ice-melt-lowest-15-years-antactic-sea-ice-average/

No sign of any effect of CO2 ..
Roald Larsen, Oslo, Norway
09/09/2021 05:56
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The true health of the planet ecosystem is measured by the health and prosperity of its apex predators. The pending tragic demise of the majestic polar bear is the canary in the coal mine for Earth. Vanishing species strip the planet of its wondrous beauty. Thank you ST and Svetlana for an insightful story and excellent photos of this great species.
Chad, USA
18/08/2021 07:29
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The true health of the planet ecosystem is measured by the health and prosperity of its apex predators. The pending tragic demise of the majestic polar bear is the canary in the coal mine for Earth. Vanishing species strip the planet of its wondrous beauty.
Chad, USA
18/08/2021 07:26
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One of the worlds greatest tragedies is unfolding before our eyes...

Mr Fyodor Konyukhov's Gulliver's Travels through the Artic are however amazing and pioneering in not only a scientific sense in studying the miroplastic problem. However he must be the first famous traveller to set up tent on a new ice flow just like the indigenous inhabitants of the Artic; the beautiful magestic polar bears.

There is a glimmer of hope though: in that world powers are finally taking the climate change and scientists seriously with the US and Bill Gates setting up a 550 billion dollar climate package to commence with new technologies and climate friendly activities.

The real tragedy would be to loose our Artic and it's polar bears or see them stuffed into zoos. Please create more polar bear sanctuaries for them our wildlife friendly pioneers Russia...
Anonymous, Switzerland
14/08/2021 23:00
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