Picture by Kjetil Sagerup

Polar bear sighting and encounters

HomePolar bear sighting and encounters

Polar bear sightings and encounters

Have you seen a polar bear and/or had a close encounter? Please share your observation and/or encounter by filling out this form. The goal of this documentation is to identify safety hazards, trends in human-bear encounters and eventually give statistics on bear observations. (Part of) the data from this form are presented to NySMAC and shared once a year to the local people in Ny-Ålesund.

Date of sighting / encounter(Required)
Approximate time of sighting / encounter(Required)
If you don’t know the name of the place, try to describe it. (e.g. approx. 5 km west of Ny-Ålesund)
Did (one of) the bear(s) have a collar?
Your form of transportation when observing/encountering the bear(s)?

Did you change your field plans due to the encounter?

If you had a closer encounter, please take the time to give us some more information:

We define a closer encounter as meeting a bear causing you to change your way / behaviour. E.g. you are on fieldwork and have to leave the island because you see a bear. Or a bear approached your cabin and had to scare off the bear. If you are unsure if you had an encounter, please fill out the information below either way. More information is valuable and helpful for us.
E.g. “at a cabin” or “during fieldwork on the coastline”.
What was your group size?
Please mention anything you think is relevant for others to know. There is no judgement about your own behavior and this form is anonymous. Any information on the reaction of both the bear(s) as the human(s) gives us insights and important lessons learned. By sharing your experience, you help increase the field safety in the Arctic.
What is your role in Ny-Ålesund? (you can choose several)
In case you have an image of the bear or the situation, you can upload it here.
Accepted file types: jpg, jpeg, png, gif.

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