“But now, because the ice disconnection occurs earlier and lasts longer, the bears run into food shortages.”Īccording to the new report, the average temperature in Longyearbyen is predicted to rise by 7☌ to 10☌, and rainfall by 40% to 65%, by the end of the century, depending on the level of global carbon emissions. Unable to hunt for ring seals on the ice floes, in the past the bears would eke out the warmer months by raiding eggs on the cliffs. “If the bears miss the ride, they are stranded on the shore for the summer.” “The floating sea ice disconnects from the land in the summer,” explains Holmen. When rain freezes and forms ice, Svalbard's reindeer are at risk of starvation. The reindeer are unable to break through the ice to reach the grass below. “When the water hits the ground, it freezes,” he says. But snow is increasingly giving way to rain.
“During winter, reindeer stomp the ground with their front legs to get the snow away in order to graze,” he says. Land-bound animals cannot relocate and starving reindeer are now a common sight, says Holmen. Atlantic cod have arrived in their place, swimming north to the warming waters, says Holmen. Polar cod, which used to swim in the fjord, have disappeared along with the ice on which they depend. Speaking in February, he said: “At this time of year, we used to have a meter of ice on the fjord, I could see from my window. Kim Holmen, international director of the Norwegian Polar Institute and a resident of Longyearbyen, has been observing the former coal mining town’s changing landscape for over three decades. Pipes containing a coolant were threaded through the soil, and a freezing mat laid on top of the tunnel to help the permafrost stay frozen. Statsbygg also transferred heat-producing electrical equipment from inside the tunnel to a separate facility and dug ditches to divert meltwater.
“We replaced the steel entrance tunnel with a waterproof concrete tunnel,” says Aschim. Statsbygg undertook 100 million Norwegian krone ($11.7 million) of reconstruction work, more than double the original cost of the structure. Construction work on the seed vault's new service building and tunnel entrance.
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