Gepubliceerd op 11 oktober 2022
Churchill is a town in northern Manitoba, Canada, situated on the western shores of Hudson Bay, at the edge of the Arctic. This human settlement has been increasingly visited by starving polar bears in search of food.
In fact, because of climate change and the melting of sea ice, there has been a significant decline in the number of seals present in Hudson Bay. This is an issue for polar bears, who feed off the fat present in a seal's body. Due to this food shortage, more and more of them are now forced to approach the town’s landfill in search of subsistence.
The town of Churchill and the Hudson Bay are visible in this image, which was acquired by one of the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites on 2 October 2022.
Data from the Copernicus Sentinel satellites are used operationally to monitor the impact of climate change on the fragile ecosystems of the Arctic.