Polar Bear on Sea Ice II, Barents SeaWe were north of Svalbard, deep into the pack ice of the Barents Sea. The ship had stopped and everything was quiet. Just the slow crack and shift of ice moving against itself. The bear appeared from nowhere, as they tend to do. It was working its way across the broken floes with a patience I found extraordinary. Each step placed deliberately, testing the ice before committing its weight, then lowering itself down toward the dark water between the