Science behind the video Polar Bear Scare Unmasked – updated paper now available

via polarbearsciencehttps://polarbearscience.com

Announcing the publication today of Version 2 of my paper that tests the hypothesis that polar bear population declines result from rapid declines in summer sea ice, updated with recently available data. Version 2 provides the scientific support for the information presented in the GWPF video published yesterday, “Polar Bear Scare Unmasked: The Sage of a Toppled Global Warming Icon” (copied below).

crockford-2017-version-2-title-page-graphic

[The graphic above was created by me from the title page and two figures from the paper]

Crockford, S.J. 2017 V2. Testing the hypothesis that routine sea ice coverage of 3-5 mkm2 results in a greater than 30% decline in population size of polar bears (Ursus maritimus). PeerJ Preprints 28 February 2017. Doi: 10.7287/peerj.preprints.2737v2 Open access. http://ift.tt/2llVISp [make sure you select Version 2, noted on title page]

Version 2, published 28 February, incorporates additional reviewer comments and suggestions received on Version 1, as well as the updates noted above.

This paper addresses the basic premise upon which predicted population declines linked to modeled habitat loss made by polar bear specialists back in 2006 and 2008 (by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, IUCN, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service, USFWS). It concludes that when assessed as a testable hypothesis against data collected since then (and strengthened in Version 2 by the inclusion of population size estimates for Baffin Bay, Kane Basin and the Barents Sea), the hypothesis must be rejected.