A sign marking a security point and warning from polar bears stands in the snow in Kongsfjord, in the outskirts of Ny-Aalesund, Svalbard, Norway, April 6, 2023. Polar bear sightings in Kongsfjord over the past four years have been higher than ever before, as the animals are left hungrier due to partly the loss of their sea ice hunting grounds and are more often prowling nearby islands in search of food. "If you work along the coast long enough, even taking all the precautions, you're likely to eventually see a polar bear," said biologist Joanna Sulich, 31. "Your training and understanding of behavior is essential." REUTERS/Lisi Niesner SEARCH "NIESNER ICE" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES.

Sunlight is reflected on the crevasses of the Kongsbreen glacier near Ny-Aalesund, Svalbard, Norway, April 10, 2023. Researchers have been studying the polar region for decades, with Ny-Aalesund's weather records going back more than 40 years, but as Svalbard temperatures climb up to seven times faster than the global average, scientists' work has become vitally important because what happens in the Arctic can impact global sea levels, storms in North America and Europe, and other factors far beyond the frozen region. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner SEARCH "NIESNER ICE" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES.

Kings Bay AS receptionist and safety instructor Christer Amundsen (right), 32, demonstrates how to fire a flare gun to a group of residents and scientists during safety training, at the shooting range near Ny-Aalesund, Svalbard, Norway, April 5, 2023. Ny-Alesund has only about 35 year-round residents but, in summer, the population swells to more than 100 as scientists fly in from across the world to the town, where the daily life centers around its diversions - a sauna, a sled dog yard, and a weekly nighttime gathering called "Strikk og Drikk," or "Knit and Sip," during which residents stitch sweaters over a glass of wine. "The dark season is really nice," said town safety instructor Christer Amundsen, who has lived in Ny-Alesund full-time since 2019, referring to the October to February period when the sun never crests the horizon, bright stars fill the sky and blue-green auroras shimmer over the settlement. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner SEARCH "NIESNER ICE" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES.

Paul Scherrer Institute Switzerland chemist Francois Burgay, 34, takes a snow sample to detect molecules connected to algal bloom in Ny-Aalesund, Svalbard, Norway, April 5, 2023. Filling plastic test tubes with snow, Burgay looks for chemical signals from marine algae blooms that travel from the ocean to the atmosphere and are later deposited in the snow, and once these signals are identified, there is hope that scientists will be able to use them to understand how the Arctic waters changed in the past and project how they might change in the future. "One of the special things about this place is there are a lot of different scientists. I'm a chemist. There are biologists, geologists," he said. "It's one of the few places in the world where these kinds of exchanges are so informal and so spontaneous." REUTERS/Lisi Niesner SEARCH "NIESNER ICE" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES.

Members of the Ice Memory Foundation work to drill down into the ice and collect two ice cores, at 1,100 meters (3,600 feet) above sea level in the Holtedahlfonna icefield, near Ny-Aalesund, Svalbard, Norway, April 10, 2023. The team was drilling 125 meters into Dovrebreen glacier, hoping to collect two ice cores for studying 300 years of climate records – part of an effort by the non-profit Ice Memory Foundation to collect and preserve ice cores from melting glaciers around the world – and were shocked when the drill, at only 25 meters deep, suddenly sloshed into a massive pool of water. "We did not expect such a huge water flux coming out from the glacier, and this is a clear sign of what is happening in this region," said expedition leader Andrea Spolaor. "The glacier is suffering." REUTERS/Lisi Niesner SEARCH "NIESNER ICE" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES.

Blue ice is seen at frozen Kongsfjord near Ny-Aalesund, Svalbard, Norway, April 8, 2023. Researchers have been studying the polar region for decades, with Ny-Aalesund's weather records going back more than 40 years, but as Svalbard temperatures climb up to seven times faster than the global average, scientists' work has become vitally important because what happens in the Arctic can impact global sea levels, storms in North America and Europe, and other factors far beyond the frozen region. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner SEARCH "NIESNER ICE" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES.

Ice floes are seen in Kongsfjord, near Ny-Aalesund, Svalbard, Norway, April 6, 2023. Researchers have been studying the polar region for decades, with Ny-Alesund's weather records going back more than 40 years, but as Svalbard temperatures climb up to seven times faster than the global average, scientists' work has become vitally important because what happens in the Arctic can impact global sea levels, storms in North America and Europe, and other factors far beyond the frozen region. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner SEARCH "NIESNER ICE" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES.

The VLBI Geodetic Observatory radio telescope is seen near Kongsfjord in Ny-Aalesund, Svalbard, Norway, April 6, 2023. Researchers have been studying the polar region for decades, with Ny-Aalesund's weather records going back more than 40 years, but as Svalbard temperatures climb up to seven times faster than the global average, scientists' work has become vitally important because what happens in the Arctic can impact global sea levels, storms in North America and Europe, and other factors far beyond the frozen region. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner SEARCH "NIESNER ICE" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES.

The town's post office is seen in Ny-Aalesund, Svalbard, Norway, April 11, 2023. Within the last decade, four buildings have been damaged by thawing permafrost, and last year Kings Bay SA, the state-owned company that manages the town, had to close down a laboratory where scientists processed samples from fish snow and ice due to thaw cracking its foundation. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner SEARCH "NIESNER ICE" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES.

NPI (Norwegian Polar Institute) glaciologist Jean-Charles Gallet, 41, speaks to his team before heading to the Ice Memory drilling camp in the Holtedahlfonna icefield, 70 kilometers from Ny-Aalesund, Svalbard, Norway, April 10, 2023. The team was drilling 125 meters into Dovrebreen glacier, hoping to collect two ice cores for studying 300 years of climate records – part of an effort by the non-profit Ice Memory Foundation to collect and preserve ice cores from melting glaciers around the world – and were shocked when the drill, at only 25 meters deep, suddenly sloshed into a massive pool of water. "The snow in the valley is gone, and you are stuck in town, and your snowmobile is in the garage," Gallet said. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner SEARCH "NIESNER ICE" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES.

Plumber and Kings Bay AS watchman Jakob Weiset, 31, uses his radio in front of a polar bear warning sign marking the settlement's safe area in Ny-Aalesund, Svalbard, Norway, April 11 2023. Polar bear sightings in Kongsfjord over the past four years have been higher than ever before, as the animals are left hungrier due partly to the loss of their sea ice hunting grounds and are more often prowling nearby islands in search of food as eight watchmen take turns patrolling the perimeter of Ny-Aalesund for polar bears. The idea is to "try to avoid it getting to the center of Ny-Alesund," Weiset said. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner SEARCH "NIESNER ICE" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES.

The Kronebreen glacier is seen in Kongsfjord, near Ny-Aalesund, Svalbard, Norway, April 5, 2023. Researchers have been studying the polar region for decades, with Ny-Alesund's weather records going back more than 40 years, but as Svalbard temperatures climb up to seven times faster than the global average, scientists' work has become vitally important because what happens in the Arctic can impact global sea levels, storms in North America and Europe, and other factors far beyond the frozen region. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner SEARCH "NIESNER ICE" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES.

Kings Bay AS chef Espen Ulvenes (left), 29, and some friends and their dogs make their way on skis towards the Kongsfjord banks, near Ny-Aalesund, Svalbard, Norway, April 8, 2023. Ny-Aalesund has only about 35 year-round residents but, in summer, the population swells to more than 100 as scientists fly in from across the world to the town, where the daily life centers around its diversions - a sauna, a sled dog yard, and a weekly nighttime gathering called "Strikk og Drikk," or "Knit and Sip," during which residents stitch sweaters over a glass of wine. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner SEARCH "NIESNER ICE" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES.

Lion statues decorate the entrance of the China's Yellow River scientific station in Ny-Aalesund, Svalbard, Norway, April 6, 2023. Ny-Alesund has only about 35 year-round residents but, in summer, the population swells to more than 100 as scientists fly in from across the world to the town, where the daily life centers around its diversions - a sauna, a sled dog yard, and a weekly nighttime gathering called "Strikk og Drikk," or "Knit and Sip," during which residents stitch sweaters over a glass of wine. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner SEARCH "NIESNER ICE" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES.

A reindeer is seen near Ny-Aalesund, Svalbard, Norway, April 8, 2023. Researchers have been studying the polar region for decades, with Ny-Alesund's weather records going back more than 40 years, but as Svalbard temperatures climb up to seven times faster than the global average, scientists' work has become vitally important because what happens in the Arctic can impact global sea levels, storms in North America and Europe, and other factors far beyond the frozen region. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner SEARCH "NIESNER ICE" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES.

NPI (Norwegian Polar Institute) glaciologist Jean-Charles Gallet, 41, sits in front of a screen that shows a weather front carrying warmer air and rain to the archipelago, at his office in Ny-Aalesund, Svalbard, Norway, April 6, 2023. Scientists hoping to harvest ice cores are finding glaciers inundated by water and their research sites getting harder to reach, as earlier springtime melt makes it difficult for snowmobile travel in Svalbard, where temperatures are climbing up to seven times the global average. "The snow in the valley is gone, and you are stuck in town, and your snowmobile is in the garage," Gallet said. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner SEARCH "NIESNER ICE" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES.

Kings Bay AS airport manager Vegard Sand, 39, removes snow from a walkway in Ny-Aalesund, Svalbard, Norway, April 6, 2023. Within the last decade, four buildings have been damaged by thawing permafrost, and last year Kings Bay SA, the state-owned company that manages the town, had to close down a laboratory where scientists processed samples from fish snow and ice due to thaw cracking its foundation. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner SEARCH "NIESNER ICE" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES.

Kings Bay AS accountant Sunniva Berge Mo, 33, hugs her dog Zelda, at the dog yard in Ny-Aalesund, Svalbard, Norway, April 9, 2023. Ny-Alesund has only about 35 year-round residents but, in summer, the population swells to more than 100 as scientists fly in from across the world to the town, where the daily life centers around its diversions - a sauna, a sled dog yard, and a weekly nighttime gathering called "Strikk og Drikk," or "Knit and Sip," during which residents stitch sweaters over a glass of wine. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner SEARCH "NIESNER ICE" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES.

CNR (Italian National Research Council) geochemist and expedition leader Andrea Spolaor, 39, walks along the Ice Memory drilling camp, near Ny-Aalesund, Svalbard, Norway, April 10, 2023. A team of scientists was drilling 125 meters into Dovrebreen glacier, hoping to collect two ice cores for studying 300 years of climate records – part of an effort by the non-profit Ice Memory Foundation to collect and preserve ice cores from melting glaciers around the world – and were shocked when the drill, at only 25 meters deep, suddenly sloshed into a massive pool of water. "We did not expect such a huge water flux coming out from the glacier, and this is a clear sign of what is happening in this region," Spolaor said. "The glacier is suffering." REUTERS/Lisi Niesner SEARCH "NIESNER ICE" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES.

NPI (Norwegian Polar Institute) scientists ride their snowmobiles as the sun sets at the banks of Kongsfjord and the Kronebreen glacier near Ny-Aalesund, Svalbard, Norway, April 10, 2023. Researchers have been studying the polar region for decades, with Ny-Alesund's weather records going back more than 40 years, but as Svalbard temperatures climb up to seven times faster than the global average, scientists' work has become vitally important because what happens in the Arctic can impact global sea levels, storms in North America and Europe, and other factors far beyond the frozen region. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner SEARCH "NIESNER ICE" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES.