Svalbard

Svalbard is an archipelago lying in the Arctic Ocean north of mainland Europe, about midway between Norway and the North Pole. It consists of a group of islands ranging from 76° to 81° North, and 10° to 35° East. The archipelago is the northernmost part of the Kingdom of Norway. Three islands are populated: Spitsbergen, Bjørnøya and Hopen. The largest settlement is Longyearbyen. The Svalbard Treaty recognises Norwegian sovereignty over Svalbard. With the 1925 Svalbard Act, Norway chose to make Svalbard a part of the Kingdom.

1 History
2 Politics
3 Seed bank
4 Geography and nature
5 Climate
6 Economy
7 Coal mining in Svalbard
8 Demographics
9 Svalbard in popular culture
10 References
11 External links

[edit] History

Main article: History of Svalbard

Svaldbard map of 1758

Vikings and/or Russians may have discovered Svalbard as early as the 12th century. Traditional Norse accounts exist of a land known as Svalbarði - literally "cold edge". (this land might also have been Jan Mayen, or a part of eastern Greenland.) The Dutchman Willem Barents made the first indisputable discovery of Svalbard in 1596. The islands served as an international whaling base in the 17th and 18th centuries, when the Greenland whale became extinct in this region. From 1612 to 1720 whaling took place off the western coast of Spitsbergen, by Danish, Dutch, English, French and Norwegian ships. It is estimated that the Dutch alone took 60,000 whales from their base Smeerenburg. They also provided the headquarters for many Arctic exploration expeditions.

At the beginning of the 20th century, American, British, Swedish, Russian and Norwegian companies started coal mining. Norway's sovereignty was recognized by the Svalbard Treaty of 1920 with an addition that limited military use of Svalbard and that the other nations retained the rights to their settlements; five years later Norway officially took over the territory. Some historians claim that Norway was given sovereignty as compensation for its Merchant Fleet losses during WW I, when the Norwegian Merchant fleet played an important role supplying the UK. Only Norwegian and Russian settlements survived World War II.

From the late 1940s to the early 1980s the geology of the Svalbard archipelago was investigated by teams from Cambridge University and other universities (e.g., Oxford University), led by Cambridge geologist W. Brian Harland. Many of the geographical features of the isles are named after the participants in these expeditions, or were given names by them linked to places in Cambridge (see Norwegian Polar Institute).

The largest island in the archipelago is called Spitsbergen (Dutch for "Jagged mountains"); this name was formerly used to refer to the entire archipelago, while the main island was called West Spitsbergen.

[edit] Politics

Main article: Politics of Svalbard

Svalbard is completely controlled by the Kingdom of Norway and is part of it. The Svalbard Treaty recognizes Norwegian sovereignty over Svalbard. However Norway's power over Svalbard has some limitations in taxation, environmental conservation, non-discrimination and certain military activity.

Svalbard was made a part of Norway by a Norwegian act in 1925, thus Svalbard is not a Norwegian dependency. However, under the terms of the treaty, citizens of signatory states have rights to exploit mineral deposits and other natural resources "on a footing of absolute equality". As a result, a permanent Russian settlement, more or less autonomous, grew up at Barentsburg. Another Russian settlement at Pyramiden was abandoned in 2000.

According to Per Sefland, Norway's governor on the archipelago, the Svalbard Treaty of February 9, 1920 implies that "If you're able to find a job, you have the right according to the treaty to come here."^[2] The treaty states: "The nationals of all the high contracting parties [signatories] shall have equal liberty of access and entry for any reason or object whatever to the waters, fjords and ports of the territories." Therefore, some immigrants who have been denied residence in EU countries have relocated to Svalbard.

[edit] Seed bank

Main article: Svalbard Global Seed Vault

By the year 2007 the Norwegian government is planning on building a "doomsday" seed bank in which as many species' seeds as possible will be stored. The Norwegian government will be building this bank by hollowing out a 120-meter tunnel on Spitsbergen cut into rock with a natural temperature of - 6 degrees Centigrade, refrigerating it to - 18 degrees Centigrade, and then storing seeds donated by the 1,400 crop repositories maintained by countries around the world. The proposed bank will have top security blast-proof doors and would have two airlocks. The number of seeds stored will depend on the number of countries participating in the project, with the first seeds ariving in 2008. The initiative of this project is to prevent needed plants (wild, agricultural, etc.) from going extinct due to a global catastrophe such as global warming (the tunnel is 130 meters above sea-level) or nuclear war.^[3]^[4]^[5]

[edit] Geography and nature

Main article: Geography of Svalbard

View overlooking Longyearbyen

Svalbard consists of a group of islands in the Arctic Ocean ranging from 76° to 81° North and 10° to 35° East, and forms the northern-most part of Norway and the northern-most lands of Europe. The islands cover an area of 61,022 km², of which about 60% (36,502 km²) is covered by glaciation.^[6]^[7] Three large islands dominate: Spitsbergen (37,673 km² or 14,550 square miles), Nordaustlandet, (Northeast Land), (14,443 km² or 5576 square miles) and Edgeøya (Edge Island) (5074 km²or 1959 square miles)^[6]^[8] There is also the smaller Barentsøya (1,288 km²), Kvitøya (682 km²), Prins Karls Forland (615 km²), Kongsøya (191 km²), Bjørnøya (178 km²), Svenskøya (137 km²), Wilhemøya (120 km²) and other smaller islands or skerries (621 km²).^[6]

Svalbard lies far north of the Arctic Circle. In Longyearbyen, the midnight sun lasts from April 20 to August 23, and polar night lasts from October 26 to February 15.

The unique road sign only found on Svalbard, informing people to take precautions when outside the settlements.

In addition to humans, four predominantly terrestrial mammalian species inhabit the archipelago: the Svalbard field mouse Microtus epiroticus, the Arctic fox, the Svalbard reindeer (a distinct sub-species), and polar bears. Since polar bears occur very commonly on Svalbard, all people need to take precautions when outside the settlements: this includes carrying a rifle. Nevertheless, the law protects polar bears, forbidding anyone to harm or disturb them unless it is necessary to remove a considerable danger of injury to a person.^[9] A large number of aquatic mammalian species also inhabit the archipelago, including whales, dolphins, pinniped seals and walruses.

Svalbard is also a breeding ground for large numbers of seabirds, including Brunnich's and Black Guillemot, Puffin, Little Auk, Fulmar and Kittiwake. Other seabirds include Arctic Tern, four species of skua, and the elusive Ivory Gull. The Svalbard Ptarmigan, found on the larger islands, is the only land bird present for the entire year. Only two songbirds migrate to Svalbard to breed: the Snow Bunting and the Wheatear. For more information on the bird life to be found you can check this website.Bird Watching In Norway - Svalbard

There is an astonishing variety of flowering plants on Svalbard. Although they are very small, these plants use the short period of 24-hour daylight to produce colourful blossoms. See also: Flowers of Svalbard.

Map of Svalbard

Orthographic projection centred over Svalbard

[edit] Fjords

There are numerous fjords among the Svalbard islands; the five longest of which (measured from the head to open sea) are listed here:^[6]

Wijdefjorden, 108 km
Isfjorden, 107 km
Van Mijenfjorden, 83 km
Woodfjorden, 64 km
Wahlenbergfjorden, 46 km

[edit] Coastlines

Coastlines of the Svalbard islands (listed from largest island to smallest) show the extensive variability characteristic of glacial formation:^[6]

Spitsbergen, 3,919 km
Nordaustlandet, 1,688 km
Edgeøya, 502 km
Barentsøya, 205 km
Kvitøya, 119 km
Prins Karls Forland, 320 km
Kongsøya, 132 km
Bjørnøya, 88 km
Svenskøya, 62 km
Wilhemøya, 58 km
Other smaller islands and skerries, 1,736 km

[edit] Mountains

Although small when compared with the mountains of Norway, the elevation of the Svalbard island mountains accounts for much of the glacial erosion:^[6]

Newtontoppen, 1713 m
Perriertoppen, 1712 m
Ceresfjellet, 1675 m
Chadwickryggen, 1640 m
Galileotoppen, 1637 m

[edit] Settlements

Barentsburg (Баренцбург) (Russian settlement — population of 900)
Bjørnøya (Norwegian weather station, population of 9)
Grumantbyen (Грумант) (Russian settlement, abandoned in 1961, revival of mining operations announced in 2003)
Hopen (Norwegian weather station, population of 4)
Hornsund (Polish research station, population of 8)
Isfjord radio
Longyearbyen (population of 1,800)
Ny-Ålesund (population of 40)
Pyramiden (Пирамида) (Russian settlement, abandoned in 2000)
Smeerenburg (Dutch settlement on northwestern Amsterdam Island, abandoned around 1660)
Sveagruva (population of 210)

No roads link the settlements on the island; transportation includes boat, plane, helicopter, and snowmobile. The gateway to Svalbard is through Svalbard Airport, Longyearbyen.

[edit] Climate

The North Atlantic Current moderates Svalbard's Arctic climate,^[10] keeping the surrounding waters open and navigable most of the year.^[11] The average Summer temperature is around 5 degrees Celsius (°C), and in winter, −12 °C. The Western coast is considerably warmer than the east, due to the North Atlantic Drift.

Due to its history of human occupation, Svalbard has one of the longest high-latitude meteorological records on earth. Computer models of global climate have long predicted enhanced greenhouse warming at such latitudes, so the Svalbard record is of particular interest. It shows approximately 6 °C increase in 100 years; with 4 °C increase in the last 30 years.

[edit] Economy

Economic activity centres on coal mining, supplemented by fishing and trapping. In the final decades of the 20th century, tourism, research, higher education, and some high-tech enterprises like satellite relay-stations grew significantly. A 200 nautical mile (370 km) Fisheries Protection Zone around Svalbard was established in 1977 pursuant to the Act of 17 December 1976 relating to the Economic Zone of Norway. Despite recent discussions, Russia and Norway dispute their maritime limits in the Barents Sea and Russia's fishing rights beyond Svalbard's territorial limits within the Svalbard Treaty zone.

The Svalbard Undersea Cable System which started operation in January 2004 provides dual 1440 km fiber optic lines from Svalbard to Harstad via Andøy, needed for communicating with polar orbiting satellite stations on Svalbard, some owned by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), both United States government agencies.

The Norwegian state-owned coal company employs nearly 60% of the Norwegian population on the island, runs many of the local services, and provides most of the local infrastructure. Coal production has increased significantly over the past 10 years, rising from less that 500,000 tons in 1994 to over 2,500,000 tons in 2004.^[6]

Exploration for oil and natural gas is underway.

[edit] Coal mining in Svalbard

The first modern coal mine was opened in 1906 when the Arctic Coal Company (ACC) set up camp. The settlement that grew up around the mine was named after the American owner of ACC, John Munroe Longyear. However ACC sold out to the Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani (SNSK) in 1916, and over the next few years two other Norwegian companies set up operations on the southernmost island, Bjørnøya, and the Kings Bay Kull Compani opened a mine in Ny Ålesund.

Mining came to a halt during WWII, and the islands were evacuated on the 3rd of September 1941. However the Germans did bomb Longyearbyen and the Barentsburg settlement in September 1943 and the settlement of Sveagruva the year after.

The Ny Ålesund mine was closed down in 1963 after an explosion in 1962 when 21 lives were lost, and has since been converted to a scientific post.

As of 2006, there are three operational coal mines in Svalbard. There are large mines in Sveagruva (production 2 million tonnes per year,^[12] and Barentsburg, while the small mine in Longyearbyen is used mainly to supply the town's own power plant.

[edit] Demographics

Svalbard has a population of approximately 2,400 people as of 2005. Approximately 70% of the people are Norwegian; the remaining 30% are Russian, Ukrainian and Polish. The official language of Svalbard is Norwegian. Russian is used in the Russian settlements, but formerly, Russenorsk was the lingua franca of the entire Barents Sea region.

Population of Svalbard^[6]
Year	Total	Norwegian	Russian	Polish
1990	3,544	1,125	2,407	12
1995	2,906	1,218	1,679	9
2000	2,376	1,475	893	8
2005	2,400	1,645	747	8

[edit] Svalbard in popular culture

Svalbard is featured as the setting for much action in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. A gateway was created there from which one could gain access to parallel universes. The Svalbard in the books is ruled by a race of highly-intelligent armored polar bears, Iorek Byrnison being their King as of the second book. (Panserbjørne).

The Norwegian thriller Orion's Belt (1985) takes place on Svalbard.

'The Captain of the Polestar' by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is set off Amsterdam Island at the North West of Svalbard.

'Svalbard is a the title of an instrumental song on the album 'Quiet Latitudes' by Anthony Boast.

'In the Guardians of Ga'hoole Series, Svallbard is the name of an associate of Lyze of Kiel from the northern kingdoms.

[edit] References

^ .bv and .sj domains are not in use, Norid
^ Svalbard Treaty of February 9, 1920
^ "Norway Reveals Design of Doomsday' Seed Vault"; Nature; Volume 445; 15 February 2007
^ BBC News
^ Work starts on Arctic seed vault, CNN
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Web publication of Statistics Norway, the official body for such data in Norway. Units provided are metric only; no unit conversions provided here.
^ The percentage of Svalbard covered by glaciation varies by year; 59.8% is reported for 2005.
^ Areas used differ slightly from those published by (1986) Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica. ISBN none. Areas are provided in both Metric and English units.
^ Norwegian law on wild animals, §11
^ Climate of Norway
^ Norwegian meteorological updates of ice maps.
^ Store Norske - coal company information site