Modelling polar bear maternity den habitat in east Svalbard

• Published in: Polar Research
• Main Authors: Benjamin Merkel, Jon Aars, Glen E. Liston
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Norwegian Polar Institute 2020
• Subjects: climate change; reproduction; snowdens-3d; snowdrift model; terrain model; topography; Environmental sciences; GE1-350; Oceanography; GC1-1581; Arctic; Svalbard; Barents Sea; Hopen; Climate change; Kongsøya; Polar Research; Sea ice; Svenskøya; Ursus maritimus
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.33265/polar.v39.3447; https://doaj.org/article/90f716e02a4e4560a50888ceae79867a

We evaluated a novel tool that predicts possible maternity den habitat of the polar bear (Ursus maritimus) based on a physical snow transport model, a digital terrain model and weather data. We observed and compared den locations in three important denning areas in east Svalbard (Kongsøya, n = 288;...