Study: Polar Bears Can Be Saved by Slower Arctic Melt

(NewsCore) - Polar bears can be saved from extinction if carbon emissions are curbed over the next 20 years, a new study claimed, challenging the theory that the melting of Arctic sea ice could not be halted once temperatures rose beyond a certain point.

US federal and university scientists specializing in Arctic climate and polar bear ecology said Wednesday that instead of an unstoppable decline in ice, a linear -- and reversible -- reduction was more likely.

Previously, it was believed that there was a tipping point above which the retreat of Arctic ice would become unstoppable even if global temperatures subsequently stabilized. Under this projection, about two-thirds of the world’s 22,000 polar bears were predicted to be lost by mid-century.

But if carbon emissions drop during the next two decades, the polar bears’ habitat could be preserved, according to the research, published in the journal Nature.

“What we projected in 2007 was based on the usual greenhouse gas scenario,” said Steven Amstrup, an emeritus researcher with the US Geological Survey and a senior scientist with Polar Bears International. “That was a pretty dire outlook, but it didn’t consider the possibility of greenhouse gas mitigation.”

Cecilia Bitz, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Washington, said, “Our research offers a very promising, hopeful message, but it’s also an incentive for mitigating greenhouse emissions.”

However, some scientists said the new projections were too optimistic. “I wouldn’t say that we can rule out a tipping point, but it does show that a tipping point isn’t inevitable,” said Walt Meier, a senior scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo.