Far above the Arctic Circle, deep in the pack ice north of Svalbard. An archipelago of islands north of Norway, Svalbard is centrally located within the home range of the Barents Sea population of polar bears, currently estimated to be approximately 3,000. Polar bears face serious challenges from climate change, commercial activity, conflicts with people, disease, poorly regulated harvest and, as an apex predator, the build-up of toxins within their bodies that work their way up the food chain.