The bear he says brings that message home. "It gives people an opportunity to connect with literally the processes that are going on up on the sea ice of the Arctic Ocean around the North Pole which is melting,"

VOA: standard.2009.12.13

Artur Chilingarov, an adventurer and deputy speaker of Russia's parliament, led two Russian mini-submarines to the bottom of the Arctic Ocean beneath the North Pole, where he collected gravel and planted the Russian flag.

ECONOMIST: Ventures into the near-abroad

Deep inside the Arctic Circle, far closer to the North Pole than to Oslo, Svalbard is at once one of Europe's last intact wilderness areas and the world's most accessible slice of the polar North.

BBC: Drawing near to the North Pole

When the Arctic Oscillation turns negative, that is, when the winds weaken, the cold air normally trapped around the North Pole surges south.

FORBES: 2011 Forecast: World Outperforms U.S., Europe Scuttles