Past ice sheets have retreated rapidly, raising global sea level at rates >1 cm per year ... (LIS), Cordilleran (CIS), Scandinavian (SIS), Barents-Kara (BKIS), Greenland (GIS) and East (EAIS ...

On a voyage to Svalbard in 1612, the captain of a Dutch ship reported that the Barents Sea was so full of whales that the ship's prow parted the beasts as though it were cutting through pack ice.

However, polar bears are rarely seen on the island, which is one of the most southern points in Svalbard and is rarely accessible to the white bears via Arctic sea ice. For example, in 2019 ...