SEAL PUPS FACE STARVATION BEING TRAPPED ON ICE SHEETS IN WHITE SEA, 2000-04-23 (photo)

According to the Russian Polar Research Institute for Fisheries and Oceanography, between 250,000 and 300,000 Greenland seal pups face death by starvation over the next two months due to a cruel trick by mother nature. The seals, most of them less than two months old, are trapped on ice sheets that remain locked in the White Sea, located near Archangel in Northern Russia. The top image, taken May 3, 2001, shows the large ice shelf still trapped in the White Sea. The bottom image was taken by MODIS almost this same time last year (April 23, 2000). Notice there was much less ice in the White Sea this time last year as most of it was en route to the Barents Sea. ME/TRA