Spitsbergen

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Spitsbergen
Map of Svalbard with Spitsbergen in the west emphasised
Map of Svalbard with Spitsbergen in the west emphasised
Geography
Location Arctic Ocean
Coordinates 78°54′N 18°01′E / 78.9, 18.017Coordinates: 78°54′N 18°01′E / 78.9, 18.017
Archipelago Svalbard
Area 39,044 km²
Highest point Newtontoppen
1,717 m (5,633 ft)
Administration
Flag of Norway Norway
Largest city Longyearbyen


Spitsbergen (formerly known as West Spitsbergen, and sometimes misspelled Spitzbergen[1]) is a Norwegian island, the largest island of the Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. The island of Spitsbergen covers approximately 39,044 km² (15,075 sq miles).[2] This name was also formerly applied to the entire archipelago of Svalbard and occasionally still is. It is around 450 km (280 miles) long and between 40 and 225 km (25 and 140 miles) wide. As Spitsbergen lies far within the arctic circle, the Sun is above the horizon for 24 hours a day from late April to late August. From 26 October to 15 February the Sun is continuously below the horizon, whilst from 12 November to the end of January there is civil polar night, where it is so continuously dark that artificial light must be used 24 hours each day.

Contents

[edit] History

The name Spitsbergen means "jagged peaks" and was given by the Dutch explorer Willem Barents, who discovered the island while searching for the Northern Sea Route in 1596. However, this archipelago may have been known to Russian Pomor hunters as early as the 14th or 15th century, though solid evidence from before the 17th century is lacking. They concluded that the land they had found was a part of Greenland and, therefore, named it Grumant (Грумант). The name Svalbard is first mentioned in Icelandic sagas of the 10th and 11th centuries, but they may also refer to the Jan Mayen island or even Greenland.

Spitsbergen is one of three inhabited islands in the archipelago, and according to the terms of the Svalbard Treaty, citizens of any of the signatory countries may settle in the archipelago. Currently, only Norway and Russia make use of this right. The largest settlement on Spitsbergen is the Norwegian town of Longyearbyen, while the second largest settlement is the Russian coal mining settlement of Barentsburg (which was sold by the Netherlands in 1932 to the Soviet company Arktikugol). Other settlements on the island include the former Russian mining communities of Grumantbyen and Pyramiden (abandoned in 1961 and 1998, respectively), a Polish research station at Hornsundet, and the remote northern settlement of Ny Alesund.[3]

Geography of Spitsbergen
Geography of Spitsbergen

Early whaling expeditions to Svalbard tended, because of currents and fauna, to cluster around West Spitsbergen and the islands off-shore.

Kvadehuksletta, on western Spitsbergen, is notable for its unique stone structures, including very circular stones and labyrinthine patterns. These structures are believed to be the result of frost heaving.

Edgeøya lies to the southeast of Spitsbergen. This uninhabited island is the largest part of the South East Svalbard Nature Reserve, home to polar bears and reindeer.

Allied soldiers were stationed on the island in 1941 to prevent Nazi Germany from occupying the islands. While the island had officially been ceded to Norway in the 1920s, that country fell under German occupation in 1940. The majority of inhabitants on the island were Russian (Soviet Union had a non-aggression pact with Germany until June 22, 1941). The United Kingdom and Canada sent military forces to the island to destroy installations and prevent the Germans from occupying it.[4]

[edit] Seed Vault

Main article: Svalbard Global Seed Vault

The Norwegian government has built a "doomsday" seed bank to store seeds from as many of the world's plant species as possible. The bank was created by hollowing out a 120-meter tunnel on Spitsbergen cut into rock with a natural temperature of -6 degrees Celsius, refrigerating it to -18 degrees Celsius, and then storing seeds donated by the 1,400 crop repositories maintained by countries around the world. The vault has top security blast-proof doors and two airlocks. The number of seeds stored depends on the number of countries participating in the project, but the first seeds arrived late in 2007. The point of this project is to save plants (wild, agricultural, etc.) from becoming extinct as a side-effect of crop gene manipulation, or due to a global catastrophe such as climate change (the tunnel is 130 meters above sea-level) or nuclear war.[5]

[edit] Popular Culture

  • In the fairy tale, The Snow Queen, this is the location of the Snow Queen's palace.
  • Spitsbergen is the location of the fictional 'Spitzbergen Static', from Predator's Gold by Phillip Reeve

[edit] See also

[edit] Sources

  • West Spitsbergen. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved July 16, 2005, from Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service.

[edit] References and notes

  1. ^ "Spitsbergen is the only correct spelling; Spitzbergen is a relatively modern blunder. The name is Dutch, not German. The second S asserts and commemorates the nationality of the discoverer." – Sir Martin Conway, No Man’s Land, 1906
  2. ^ Areas are taken from the (1986) Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica. ISBN none.  Various references provide slight differences in values.
  3. ^ Northern Townships: Spitsbergen - article published in hidden europe magazine, 10 (September 2006), pp.2-5
  4. ^ canadiansoldiers.com article
  5. ^ Norway Reveals Design of Doomsday' Seed Vault; Nature; Volume 445; 15 February 2007 BBC News; Work starts on Arctic seed vault, CNN

[edit] External links

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