Svalbard

A young polar bear takes a nap on the snow, Svalbard.

For me, among the most spectacular sights in the Arctic are calving glaciers. Here, large chunks of the terminal face of Lilliehöökbreen in Spitsbergen fall into the sea, startling a flock of Kittiwakes into flight.
The sound is immense, and always reaches you a second or two after the initial impact.

A shapely iceberg floats in front of the glacier front it recently calved from in Svalbard.

A kittiwake rests on a tiny piece of brash ice in Svalbard.

An Arctic Tern prepares to lift off from a tiny chunk of ice in Svalbard.

A deluge of meltwater pours out of a fissure in the calving face of this massive ice wall.

Kittiwakes rest on an ice floe before a glacier front in Svalbard.

Detail of a crystal clear iceberg in Svalbard on a calm, sunny day.

A polar bear strides across large ice floes in the frozen seas north of Svalbard.

In the Barents Sea north of Svalbard, a curious young bear approaches over ice floes.

A broad crevassed glacier flows around a mountain in Svalbard.

Along with the Polar Bear, Walrus are the most charismatic of the wildlife you'll find in the Arctic. With their massive bulk, huge tusks and sad eyes these guys are at once comical and sometimes, as here, oddly dignified.
They eat primarily mussels, which they suck off the sea bed - and they can consume thousands in a day.

A polar bear sits on the ice and sniffs the air in the frozen seas north of Svalbard.