On an island in the Arctic Ocean, in a region that is warming as much as seven times as fast as the rest of the planet, the food chain is being turned upside down.
Underwater kelp forests are surging into once-frozen waters, replacing other native species. Reindeer, cut off from traditional foraging routes over vanishing sea ice, now graze on seaweed when they cannot reach inland grasses and lichen.
And polar bears, deprived of the ice platforms they once used to hunt seals, have turned inland, raiding bird nests, hunting reindeer and, increasingly, clashing with humans.
Scientists are watching this ecological upheaval unfold in real time from an international research station in Svalbard, a cluster of islands near the North Pole. And it’s making their work more dangerous.
The scientists must carry rifles. A new brochure warns that if anyone comes face-to-face with a polar bear, “Stay calm. DO NOT RUN.” If it charges: “Be prepared to use any possible deterrence (shovels, ski poles, rocks, blocks of ice, water in a thermos, etc.).”
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