Depending on the capricious whims of the extreme Arctic climate and calendar, thick clouds reveal remote fragments of the landscape as if concealing some great mystery, blinding sunshine illuminates the ice, or perpetual moonlight bathes it all in the strange, blue half-light of the polar night.

BBC: Drawing near to the North Pole

Several hours later, in the honey-dipped low light of the midnight sun, a polar bear was spotted on an ice floe, finishing his dinner.

BBC: Life in the fragile, frozen Arctic