The sea ice is thinning to a degree that makes sailing easy for incomers, but hunting impossible for the native Greenlanders. The intricate stages of hardening through which sea ice annually cycles – frazil, grease, nilas, grey – are no longer being fulfilled in many places, for the temperature of the seawater is spiking above the key freeze-point of 28.6°F. When the men cannot travel safely over the sea ice, hunting becomes difficult. Seals haul out further offshore. Bears die of starvation rather than bullets.
