Bear-dar: New line of defence for humans and polar bears in the North
As part of Polar Bear Week (Nov. 2-8), a new artificial intelligence-based system, which has been in a testing phase in the Far North for several years, has been officially launched to alert communities of animals nearby in an effort to deter human-wildlife conflicts
With polar bears spending more and more time ashore in the Arctic because of melting sea ice from global warming, the chances of human-wildlife conflicts are growing.
That brings in Polar Bears International (PBI) and its newly launched Bear-dar after years of testing. An artificial intelligence (AI)-powered radar system, Bear-dar was created to detect the namesake animals and alert nearby communities around the clock.
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PBI has equipped the AI-powered system to recognize polar bears so residents nearby can be alerted to any incoming animals in their communities, giving them time to respond so both remain safe from harm. The hope is the system will detect approaching polar bears through the day and night, and extreme weather. It is now being deployed at the Eureka research station in Northern Canada.
The official launch of Bear-dar was among the initiatives PBI highlighted during Polar Bear Week 2025--held annually to celebrate the Arctic, raise global awareness about polar bears and their changing environment, advance coexistence initiatives, and inspire action for a better future for polar bears and people.
Polar bears. (Erinn Hermsen/Polar Bears International/Submitted to The Weather Network)
"Radar is really good at seeing things moving on the landscape. But then, more importantly, we were getting really good identification of things that were likely bears versus things that were not," said Geoff York, senior director of research and policy at PBI, in a recent interview with The Weather Network. "That set us up kind of for this next phase where a partner reached out and said, 'hey, we hear you've got this cool tool.'"
This year's Polar Bear Week occurs from Nov. 2-8, coinciding with the annual gathering of bears along Hudson Bay near Churchill, Man. The theme, coexistence, highlights the impacts of climate change, the power of innovation, community collaboration, and a focus on building a future where polar bears and people thrive together.
Significant changes made as bears adapt to evade radar
Churchill is known as the polar bear capital of the world. Testing of Bear-day lasted several years in the Manitoba community under various conditions at different locations to try to "dial it in" for this "unique" wildlife application, York said.
As it turns out, polar bears don't stand out on radar.
Polar bears. (BJ Kirschhoffer/B0021531?Submitted to The Weather Network)
"This was designed more for hard targets, things that stand out pretty well on radar. It turns out, and this was part of our learning curve, polar bears do not," said York. "They're sort of built to evade radar to some extent, and part of that is the fur. They have this soft cover that isn't a hard target for radar."
The other challenge with detecting the polar bears is when they turn towards the radar panel, they become a "much smaller object," York said.
The third obstacle encountered during the years of testing happened in the fall when the bears were on land, resting for long periods of time.
"We would have situations where radar would detect a polar bear moving on the landscape. The polar bear would lay down and it would stay there for three days. Then the radar would pick up movement again three days later, [assuming] it [was] a different bear. We'd have to manually go back in and stitch those tracks together," said York.
Polar bear. (BJ Kirschhoffer/Polar Bears International/Submitted to The Weather Network)
As a result, the trial period was a "pretty good learning curve" in Churchill under different environments, he said, and a "real, thorough testing of the equipment" in Arctic weather conditions.
"[During] our last year in Churchill, [we] we're able to really dial in the system, work with its built-in AI-learning capacity and teach it what we were interested in seeing, in this case, polar bears or polar bear-like animals on the landscape. We were getting excellent detection. Radar is really good at seeing things moving on the landscape," said York.
AI isn't 'replacing people' for detection
Elbert Bakker, PBI research support specialist, said AI, in general, is being positioned as a helpful tool and not a replacement for humans.
"The sheer volume of data that a radar can pick up is kind of overwhelming. So you can define predetermined filters, like 'I think it will be in this range,' but if you guess wrong, then you're tied up by your own predictions," said Bakker.
Polar bear. (Erinn Hermsen/Polar Bears International (PBI)/Submitted to The Weather Network)
"It will pick up on patterns that you may not but it's not replacing the human factor entirely. It's just giving you predictions of [whether] this seems likely or this one seems unlikely. So, it's helping you weed through thousands of data points every day to get down to the handful that might be more meaningful."
Importance of Bear-dar to prevent human-wildlife conflicts
For PBI, the Bear-dar is just one of many tools in its arsenal to keep an eye on polar bears in the Far North, York noted.
With a growing adoption of AI in many applications, the inquiry for PBI to address was whether or not it could be used to find polar bears in the dark and in bad weather so surrounding communities could be alerted.
Polar bear. (BJ Kirschhoffer/Polar Bears International/Submitted to The Weather Network)
"The answer has been a resounding yes. The equipment is quite good [and] quite capable, but it's also quite expensive. So this particular tool will only be applicable to certain situations, larger communities, camps run by governments, [and] potentially, camps in the North run by the military," said York.
While the Bear-dar has had "very successful" results, PBI is also looking for additional tools that might be less expensive and more practical to locate, York said.
"[We want to] reach out to partners who are active using video [and] installing imagery for the same purpose," said York. "We're continuing to look at the role technology can play in conservation, specifically in conflict reduction."
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Thumbnail courtesy of Erinn Hermsen/Polar Bears International.