A scruffy and lethargic polar bear resting on a shore on an islet that not long ago was under a glacier. While the polar bear struggles with less sea ice, the arctic tern (Sterna paradisaea) finds new opportunities on new land. Likely this bear was attracted by the huge numbers of terns here, but their […]
A young walrus resting comfortably on ice from the calving icecap (which can be seen in the back) of the White island (Kvitøya) – the easternmost of the Svalbard islands. Just a few years back the glacier covered this very spot, and there were few icebergs coming off it – now it’s melting so fast […]
The walrus utilizes their tusks as ice picks when they haul themselves up onto an ice float, and sometimes they might break as is the case with this one. This is one of a large group of female and young walrus resting on ice floats from a retreating glacier on Kvitøya (white island) that has […]
My close encounter with the population of walrus on the eastern side of the White Island (Kvitøya) was magical! First and foremost the sheer numbers, as this is a species that has been so severely hunted in the past that it was headed for extinction. For this reason it was protected in Norway in 1952. […]
Mother and cub checking out new possibilities on the summer sea ice north of Spitsbergen. They evoke so many feelings in humans, and I am no exception, as I simply cannot help myself and say “aaaww” when I look at the cub in the image. But during the encounter my heart was filled with awe, […]
A mother of one cub after a feed on a seal carcass. The seal was brought down by a huge male, which fed, and fed until it could swallow no more and withdrew to rest between the feasting. During these intervals this mother sneaked up to the seal with her cub and ate all they […]
We had to go further north than ever before to reach the sea ice this year, and after a long while searching in vain we finally noticed a huge male gorging on a seal carcass. Moments later we noticed a female with a cub lying down, waiting for the moment when the male was once […]
This is one of several amazing moments this female and her cub shared with us, at 81.31 degrees north of Svalbard, and here they are walking straight towards the boat I’m on to check it out, as their seal carcass was completely cleaned out and thus the hunt for new opportunities went up to the […]
These clumsy and fat mammals on land are amazingly fast and agile in the ocean! This encounter by the Seven Islands (Sjuøyane), Svalbard is from a zodiac, and they swam towards us to check us out as if this was a strange and much larger than usual member of their species. They even swam underneath […]
Several hours ago I watched the total solar eclipse which coincided with spring equinox. In Svalbard, March is one of the coldest months, and here you can see the sea is almost frozen over. With more sunny and calm days like this and this will be solid ice! Not spring as most of us like […]
This total eclipse of the sun was very hard to see from land as only the islands of Svalbard and Faroe was in the path of totality. Just 3 days before the eclipse I decided to go to Svalbard! One because the weather forecast was good, and much better than that of the Faroe, but […]
På avstand er det ikke lett å se at isflaket huser 3 isbjørner! Disse to ungene og moren hadde nok svømt langt da det på den ene siden var åpent hav på den andre siden en milevis lang brekant (Bråsvellbreen). De kan selvsagt også ha ligget lenge på flaket og drevet bort fra Hinlopenstredet, men […]
I over et døgn kjørte vi langs denne brekanten som går langs store deler av Nordaustlandet. Det sier noe om dimensjonene! Det er Bråsvellbreen på bildene, men lenger nordover var det Austfonna som regjerte. Dette var en av de få gangene man kunne seile gjennom Hinlopenstredet og helt rundt Nordaustlandet, og altså godt nord av […]
At små muslinger er næringsgrunnlaget til disse fleskbjergene er nesten ikke til å tro. Vi mennesker må jo ha kniv for åpne levende skjell, mens de store hvalrossene som hverken har hender eller verktøy slafser i seg hundrevis på et blunk nede i mudderet. Det må mange til for å gjøre en hvalross mett, så […]