Ny-Ålesund
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ny-Ålesund ("New Ålesund") is one of the four permanent settlements on Svalbard. It is located on the Brøgger-peninsula at the Kongsfjorden. Like the rest of Svalbard, Ny-Ålesund is administered by Norway.
Ny-Ålesund is one of the northernmost settlements at , and the northernmost functional public settlement.
Today, it is inhabited by a permanent population of approximately 30-35 persons. All of them are working for one of the research stations — the Global Atmosphere Watch has one here — or the logistics and supply company "Kings Bay", which owns and runs the town. In the summer the activity in Ny-Ålesund is greatly increased with up to 120 researchers, technicians, and field assistants. At present, Norway, Russia, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Japan, South Korea and China all maintain research stations at Ny-Ålesund, although not all are inhabited year-round.
Ny-Ålesund is home to the new Arctic Marine Laboratory (the northernmost in the world), which was officially opened June 1, 2005. With many open rooms and wet and dry lab spaces alike, the marine lab is particularly useful for countries which do not maintain permanent research stations in the area.
It is hardly possible to travel to Ny-Ålesund unless one has work to do there. An exception is ship cruises, on which Ny-Ålesund is a typical shore break. However, this tourism may cause interference with the sensitive scientific devices in the settlement, so tourists are closely observed by the local population. The settlement is served by the airport Ny-Ålesund Airport, Hamnerabben
Near Ny-Ålesund there has been since 1997 SvalRak, a launch site for sounding rockets.
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[edit] History
- 1916 — founded as a coal mining town
- 1926 — Roald Amundsen starts his North Pole flight with the Airship Norge
- 1962 — mining disaster (1962-11-05) kills 21 people; Norwegian government resigns in August 1963 due to this event, and mining is discontinued
- 1968 — the Norwegian Polar Institute opens a research base
- 1980s/90s — other nations increase their scientific activities, turning Ny-Ålesund into an international Arctic research base
- 2004 — China inaugurates the Yellow River Station, its first Arctic research station, in Ny-Ålesund on 2004-07-27
[edit] External links
- Webcam in Ny-Ålesund
- Web site of Kings Bay A/S, the local logistics company
- Some photos from Svalbard (tilt-)journey (pictures of Ny-Ålesund)
