Polar Dreams

The Inupiat village of Kaktovik lies at the edge of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on the Arctic Ocean. Here, polar bears are a daily part of village life.

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A polar bear cub curls up next to her mother fast asleep on a snowy beach along the Beaufort Sea. Snow won't melt on the bear's insulating fur, but she can still get cold.

A RAVN Airlines flight approaches Barter Island on the Arctic Ocean. Reaching the village requires a flight over Alaska's forbidding Brooks Range. Heavy fog here can ground air traffic for days, so they did not linger long before taking off again for their return.

A bear looks for scraps to nibble off the carcass of a bowhead whale. Villagers used to butcher whales on the sea ice, but increasingly there is no sea ice because of climate change. So they tow the dead whales back to Kaktovik to be butchered and shared among villagers. The whale meat is butchered at the end of the airstrip in a place known as the Bone Pile. This draws bears from far afield.

A bear wanders the beach waiting for the ocean to freeze. The wait wouldn't be long. We saw the first snowfall of the long Arctic winter.

A polar bear is snow white again after rolling in fresh snowfall. But there isn't much fun a polar bear can have alone in a few inches of snow.

A mama bear gets no rest with two anxious cubs. The density of bears is higher on the shore during the Arctic summer so mother bears have to be vigilant.

A bear investigates an enticing smell carried on the wind. The bear is still dirty from sleeping on the silty beach but will regain its glossy white coat by rolling in fresh snow.