evidence: Sea ice is essential habitat for polar bears—but across the Arctic, it is disappearing quickly. As a result of rising temperatures caused by the climate crisis, sea-ice concentrations in the Arctic have declined in every decade since the start of satellite records in 1979. The ice that remains is younger, thinner, melts earlier in spring and refreezes later in autumn. The changes we are seeing are not uniform. Polar bears are experiencing and responding to them in different ways and at different rates depending on what part of the Arctic they inhabit. Encounters between people and bears are on the rise across the region. In summer, less sea ice remains over the continental shelf, where polar bear prey are found. Many bears stay with the ice in summer and ride it north. Others come onto land to feed on the carcasses of subsistence-hunted bowhead whales. Female polar bears have shifted onto land to make their dens. [...] Svalbard is home to the fastest-diminishing sea-ice habitat among all polar bear subpopulations in the Arctic. In the last 30 years, the ice-free season has lengthened by 20 weeks. Sea ice no longer connects to some denning habitats on islands in the Svalbard archipelago. Where some bears used to be able to walk to denning locations on sea ice in autumn, they now have to swim. Polar bears here are continuing to recover from past commercial and recreational hunting.