Carrying out research projects in the Arctic requires a lot of physical and mental effort due to the low temperatures and barren landscape. Therefore, researchers from the U. S. Geological Survey have found a clever way to overcome the problem. They have decided that instead of going all close to the bears to study them, satellite imagery can prove to be a better option.

By using satellites images, scientists will be able to monitor and track all the bears. They will also be able to tally up a population count.

Using a technology that goes off-world is part of an initiative that involves efforts to use non-invasive technologies, so as to increase mankind's understanding of how polar bears are responding to the loss of sea ice due to global warming.

From this, all new mode of research, the study is aiming to determine the exact number of polar bears during the ice-free summer months on Rowley Island that is located in Nunavut's Foxe Basin.

Rowley has been selected as the staging ground for the research because it typically has a relatively high amount of bears during the summer and also the island's flat terrain offers an excellent setting for evaluating the effectiveness of using satellite imagery.

Although the previous methods and strategies that were used for studying polar bears involve capturing and tagging them or using low-flying aircraft for aerial surveys, they were very effective in providing information. But this new satellite technology would provide a potential to study much larger areas and would also be less troublesome to the animals.