LETTER TO THE EDITOR:

FARTHEST NORTH POLAR BEAR

(Ursus maritimus)

Dear Editor:

On 5 August 2001, while on a cruise with tourists from
Longyearbyen, Svalbard, to the Geographic North Pole,
we sighted a lone polar bear (Ursus maritimus) from the
Russian icebreaker Yamal at a site we believe to be the
northernmost record of this species. The adult bear was
seen walking slowly on the ice toward the ship about 500
meters away. The location of the ship, as determined by the
ship’s Global Positioning System (GPS), was 89˚46.5' N,
26˚21.1' E, about 13 nautical miles from the Pole. No seals
were seen in the area on that day, although on an earlier
date (8 August 1993), one of us (JFS) sighted a ringed seal
(Phoca hispida) in the water adjacent to the Yamal upon
reaching the Pole. Many other sightings of polar bears
were made on the August 2001 cruise, both prior to this
date and also later, as the ship reached Franz Josef Land
[Zemlya Frantsa-Iosifa], Russia, the next objective after
the Pole. The voyage began at Longyearbyen on 1 August
and ended there on 12 August 2001.

Todd and others (1992) list bird and seal species sighted

at the North Pole by themselves and others, but no polar
bear sightings are known at or near 90˚N. Their list in-
cludes animals at the Pole and very near it—snow bunting
(Plectrophenax nivalis) (May 1987), northern fulmar
(Fulmarus glacialis) (August 1991, July 1992), black-
legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) (July 1992), ringed
seal (July 1992), and small fish (5 – 8 cm), the latter swept
up onto the surface as the ship crashed through the ice. We
also saw the latter and speculate, as do Todd and others
(1992), that birds follow the ship to take advantage of the
exposed fish as a food resource. We also saw a northern
fulmar at the Pole during our visit on 5 August 2001.

Stirling (1990:65 – 66) reports that “Polar bears or their

tracks have been reported, albeit infrequently, by various
explorers almost as far north as the pole,….[but] This is
uncommon.” Other reports pertained to a series of aerial
surveys, which recorded 181 sightings of bears, and only
three of them were above 82˚ N (Stirling 1990, no latitudes
given). The 1969 Transpolar Expedition also saw no bears
between the Pole and 82˚ N (Stirling, 1990). At lower
latitudes, as many as 35 sightings of polar bears were made
during a circumnavigation of the Arctic in 1999 (Headland
and Splettstoesser, 1999), with concentrations, as ex-
pected, in Svalbard, the Northwest Passage, and the North-
east Passage.

Ice conditions in the area of the sighting on 5 August

2001 ranged from unbroken 10/10 multiyear sea ice to 8/
10 – 9/10 broken multiyear ice. Toomey (2001) explains
the vagaries of sea-ice coverage in the vicinity of the North
Pole by comparing ice conditions in two consecutive
years, 1999 and 2000. The heavier ice year in 1999 was
caused by a steady northeasterly wind that had packed the

ice floes tightly together, exerting moderate pressure from
about 84˚ N all the way to the Pole. Easier ice conditions
in 2000 were related to the fact that there was very little
wind at all in the very high latitudes while two voyages to
the Pole were in progress, thus explaining much open
water near or at the Pole (Toomey, 2001). Winds and
currents can thus be responsible for relatively rapid ice-
cover changes in foraging habitats for polar bears, perhaps
making it more opportunistic for them to move northward
or in other directions in pursuit of prey. Whether those
factors might have been instrumental in producing the
conditions of our polar bear sighting only 13.5 nautical
miles (15.5 statute miles/25 km) from the North Pole
cannot be ascertained.

Considering the water depth at the Geographic North

Pole (4179 m, or 13 710'), with little likelihood of upwelling
and generation of nutrients for seals and lower elements of
the food chain, it is unlikely that seals and polar bears
would normally venture this far north. However, Todd et
al. (1992) noticed, as we did, light-brown algae frozen
within some of the ice en route to the Pole, and they also
mention sighting tracks of arctic fox (Alopex lagopus) in
hard-packed snow at 89˚11.15' N in July 1992.

Yamal was chartered by Quark Expeditions, Darien,

Connecticut, U.S.A. Captain Aleksandr Lembrik (Master
of  Yamal) and Expedition Leader Susan Adie led this
successful voyage. Lynn Lay, Librarian, Byrd Polar Re-
search Center, The Ohio State University, assisted with
literature sources.

REFERENCES

HEADLAND, R.K., and SPLETTSTOESSER, J.F. 1999. First

circumnavigation of the Arctic by a tourist vessel. Polar
Geography 23(3):205 – 208.

STIRLING, I. 1990. The polar bear. London: Blandford Press. 220

p.

TODD, F.S., HEADLAND, R.K., and LASCA, N. 1992. Animals

at the North Pole. Polar Record 28(167): 321 – 322.

TOOMEY, P.R.M. 2001. Explanation for the reported thinning of

sea ice at the North Pole. Polar Record 37(201):171 – 172.

Rinie van Meurs
Bruggen 38
5243RB Rosmalen
The Netherlands
and
John F. Splettstoesser,
Polar Consultant
P.O. Box 515
Waconia, Minnesota U.S.A.
55387

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