Combined with GPS data, the devices offer a detailed record of how the bears roam, how they rest and what they endure.

Polar bears were once hunted freely across Svalbard but since an international protection agreement in 1976, the population here has slowly recovered.

The team's findings may help explain how the bears' world is changing, and at an alarming rate.

As the light faded and the icebreaker's engines hummed against the vast silence, the team packed away their tools, leaving the Arctic wilderness to its inhabitants.

Agencies via Xinhua