Melting Sea Ice Forces Walruses Ashore in Alaska

From AP:

Tens of thousands of walruses have come ashore in northwest Alaska because the sea ice they normally rest on has melted.

U.S. government scientists say this massive move to shore by walruses is unusual in the United States. But it has happened at least twice before, in 2007 and 2009. In those years Arctic sea ice also was at or near record low levels.

Loss of sea ice in the Chukchi this summer has surprised scientists because last winter lots of old established sea ice floated into the region, said Mark Serreze, director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center. But that has disappeared.

Although last year was a slight improvement over previous years, Serreze says there has been a long-term decline that he blames on global warming.

“We’ll likely see more summers like this,” he said. “There is no sign of Arctic recovery.”
We all know about Polar Bears, which are photogenic and so make nice ads, but even the ugly Arctic creatures are affected.