Where is the island of Svalbard located? Who owns the island of Svalbard

Svalbard, also known as Svalbard, is a polar archipelago located in the Arctic Ocean at a distance of 1,050 km from the North Pole, the northernmost part of the kingdom of Norway. Here is the northernmost year-round settlement on Earth (2,200 people).

We will walk along the polar archipelago of Svalbard.

1. Sunset on the Kongsfjord glacier, Svalbard, Norway, April 9, 2015. In general, the most high point islands - Mount Newton (1712 m) in Western Svalbard. (Photo by Jens Büttner | dpa | Corbis):

3. The Svalbard reindeer is the smallest of the reindeer species. (Photo by Paul Souders | Corbis):

4. Colorful houses in Longyearbyen - the northernmost settlement in the world with a population of over a thousand people. (Photo by Chris Jackson):

5. Solar eclipse on Longyearbyen, Svalbard, March 20, 2015. (Photo by Jon Olav Nesvold | NTB scanpix | Reuters):

6. Significant, by Arctic standards, economic activity in the archipelago, in addition to Norway, according to the special status of the archipelago, is carried out only by Russia, which has a Russian settlement on the island of Western Svalbard - the village of Barentsburg, as well as the mothballed villages of Piramida and Grumant.

And here is the Russian sentry near the mothballed mining village of Piramida. The village got its name because of the pyramidal shape of the mountain, at the foot of which it is based on the shores of Petunia and Mimer bays. The village is located at a distance of about 120 km from Barentsburg. The terrain in the area of the Pyramid - mountains, valleys, glaciers. Opposite the Pyramid is the large Nordenskiöld glacier, whose huge blocks, hovering above the water, break off from time to time with a roar to begin their journey in the form of icebergs. (Photo by Dominique Faget):

8. Grandfather Lenin in the abandoned Russian village of Piramida on Svalbard, July 19, 2015. (Photo by Dominique Faget):

9. The beautiful Kronebrin glacier, located in the western part of the island of Western Svalbard (Spitsbergen archipelago). (Photo by Dominique Faget):

10. There are polar foxes of two species (common and blue) on the polar archipelago of Svalbard. Attempts to move other land mammals to the archipelago, in particular polar hares and musk oxen from Greenland, were unsuccessful. (Photo by Paul Souders):

11. There are about 90 species of birds on Svalbard, of which 36 constantly nest in the archipelago.

This is Bear Island in the western part of the Barents Sea, south of the island of Western Svalbard. It belongs to Norway, but, like the entire Svalbard archipelago, whose southern part is Bear Island, it has a special status within the kingdom. (Photo by Michael Nolan | Robert Harding | Corbis):

12. Stacked remains of a whale on the west coast of Svalbard, August 3, 2013. (Photo by Juan-Carlos Muñoz | Biosphoto | Corbis):

13. Coal train. There are two official languages on the islands - Norwegian and Russian; Russian citizens do not need a visa to visit the archipelago. (Photo by David Lomax | Robert Harding):

14. Local resident - walrus. (Photo by Steven Kazlowski | Nature Picture Library | Corbis):

15. Nordenskiöld Glacier. Both the bay and the glacier are named after Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld, a Swedish geologist, explorer and navigator. He is known for being the first to travel along the Northern Sea Route from the Atlantic to Pacific Ocean back in 1878-1879. (Photo by Dominique Faget):

16. Curious white bear. (Photo by Michael S. Nolan | Robert Harding | Corbis):

Svalbard is a meeting point of cold polar air with soft and humid sea air from the south. This creates areas of low pressure and contributes to extreme weather changes and strong wind gusts, especially in winter. In winter, strong wind blows 17% of the time in the archipelago. (Photo by Chris Jackson):

18. Meet the World Seed Vault in Svalbard, the so-called "Doomsday Vault". This is a storage tunnel on the island of Svalbard where samples of seeds from major crops are placed for safe storage.

The World Seed Bank for Planting Material was established in 2006 under the auspices of the UN to preserve the planting material of all agricultural plants existing in the world. The project was financed by Norway and cost it $9 million. Each country received its own compartment in this bank of plants. The task of such a seed storage is to prevent their destruction as a result of possible global catastrophes, such as the fall of an asteroid, nuclear war or global warming. There is enough space inside for 4.5 million seed samples. (Photo by John McConnico):

19. Radar of the European Incoherent Scattering Research System. (Photo by Anna Filipova | Reuters):

20. Isfjorden is the second longest fjord in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard. It lies on the western side of Svalbard, an island in the Arctic Ocean halfway between Norway and the North Pole and the largest in the archipelago. (Photo by Juan-Carlos Muñoz | Biosphoto | Corbis):

21. The third mammal on the islands, apart from the Svalbard reindeer and arctic fox, is the polar bear.

22. The Russian settlement of Barentsburg is the second largest settlement in the Svalbard archipelago - 435 inhabitants. Barentsburg got its name in honor of the Dutch navigator Willem Barents, who visited Svalbard in 1596-1597. At present, Russia is the only country, apart from Norway itself, maintaining its economic presence on Svalbard. Consulate in Barentsburg Russian Federation. (Photo by Svalbardposten):

23. Old wooden ship. (Photo by Ho New | Reuters):

24. Sign warning about the danger of meeting with polar bears. (Photo by John McConnico):

25. And this danger is real. True, polar bears prefer harp seals for dinner. (Photo by Peer von Wahl | NIS | Minden Pictures | Corbis):

Spitsbergen Island is a special territory, a lifeless polar desert with glaciers, cold dark ocean waters and dead mountains resembling shark teeth. It was on Svalbard that the storyteller Andersen appointed the possessions of the snow queen. There is only cold and eternity. Spitsbergen Island is a special territory, a lifeless polar desert with glaciers, cold dark ocean waters and dead mountains resembling shark teeth. It was on Svalbard that the storyteller Andersen assigned the possessions of the snow queen. There is only cold and eternity. Looking at the deserted shores of Svalbard, it is difficult to understand what draws people to this inhospitable cold land. Most likely, this is not money, people infected with polar fever live here, freedom from people and worries. Here you especially feel that you are not just a person - you are eternity.

Formally, the Svalbard archipelago belongs to Norway and, according to its legal status, exists according to Norwegian laws, however, according to the social contract, about 50 countries can establish their villages on the island, fish and mine coal. Currently, there are three Norwegian settlements on Svalbard, one Polish station and three Russian settlements, of which one is active and two are mothballed. So, it is difficult to say exactly which country the Svalbard archipelago actually belongs to.

There are many northern records on Svalbard: the northernmost university, a cultural center, a church. Even the capital of Svalbard, the city of Longyearbyen, according to Wikipedia, is the northernmost settlement in the world with a population of more than a thousand people.

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Four hundred years ago life was seething there. The two most "grasping" nations in Europe - the British and the Dutch divided the spheres of influence in the archipelago. But to be more precise, there was a whole international. Ships from France, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, German states, not to mention Norwegians and Pomors, cruised in the waters of Svalbard.

At times, four hundred ships were simultaneously in the waters of the archipelago. The question is, what did they need in this God-forsaken region? Blubber is whale oil, which since the beginning of the 17th century has become one of the most sought-after goods in Europe. The blubber was, in fact, the then oil. It was the main lighting material for lamps almost until the end of the 19th century, when it was replaced by kerosene.

Wealthy Europeans abandoned flammable wax candles and switched to more “advanced” lamps in the technological sense. Surprisingly, this fact definitely influenced their way of life.

Thanks to the blubber mined in the distant Arctic, Europeans began to go to bed later, read more, and most importantly work more, since lighting in artels using whale oil was cheaper than “wax” lighting. It is interesting that the spread of blubber in Europe, which was one of the main exporters of wax, was extremely unprofitable for the Muscovite state.

Whale oil smelter in Svalbard / Cornelis de Man

However, in Russia at that time there were few officials who could think in terms of global economic strategy. It all started with Willem Barents, who discovered a rocky coast in the Arctic waters in the summer of 1596 and named it Svalbard (“sharp mountains”).

Then the Dutch sailors considered that the land was part of Greenland, so they did not claim to be a "great geographical discovery". Probably, the name "Spitsbergen" would have "fallen asleep" in the ship's log of the Barents, if the Dutch had not found a huge flock of bowhead whales in the coastal waters. It was a billion-dollar discovery, and here's why.

Whaling in Europe by that time flourished in the Bay of Biscay. The main whalers of Europe were considered the Basques, who learned how to wield a harpoon in the early Middle Ages. When whale oil gained massive demand in Europe in the second half of the 16th century, the Biscay whale hunt turned into a mass extermination.

As a result, in a few decades, the population of these marine mammals was on the verge of extinction. And so Barents discovers a new rich "deposit". Returning to their homeland, without the tragic death of Willem Barents, the expedition members found investors, and after a while the first Dutch whaling expedition headed to the Arctic waters.

While the Dutch were gathering the expedition, the British made their discovery of Svalbard. In 1607, the archipelago was contemplated by Henry Hudson, who then worked for the British Muscovy Company (Moscow Company), which received from the Russian monarchs a monopoly on trade with Russia. Hudson also noted a large population of whales in coastal waters, which he reported on his return to Britain.

And after 3 years, another employee of the Muscovy Company, Captain John Poole, noted the “incredible abundance of whales” in the waters of Svalbard. Sensing a gold mine, a British corporation with a Russian name in 1611 sent the first whaling expedition, reinforced by Basque harpooners. However, two ships crashed.

But the English "Muscovites" did not give up, and the next year a new expedition to Svalbard was organized. And there, the British sailors were in for a surprise: in the waters of the archipelago, they met Dutch and French whaling ships.

In 1613, the Muscovy Company decided to end the competition once and for all by sending 7 warships to the coast of Svalbard, which dispersed several dozen Dutch, Spanish and French ships. This led to an international political conflict.

The Dutch, Spaniards, French insisted that the waters of Svalbard (all participants called it Greenland) are neutral waters, and the British have no right to a monopoly. In addition, representatives of the Netherlands even declared their advantage, since it was Barents who discovered Svalbard.

Representatives of the Muscovy Company, in turn, argued that they received exclusive rights from the "Moscow sovereign." Say, since the end of the 15th century, this land belongs to the Russians, who even organized settlements there.

Indeed, there is a letter from the German geographer Hieronymus Müntzer to the Portuguese king Juan II, written at the end of the 15th century, which refers to the recently discovered island of Grumland (as the Russian coast-dwellers called Svalbard), which is part of the possessions of the Grand Duke of Moscow.

The Danish admiral Severin Norby, who visited Moscow in 1525 and 1528, reported to King Christian II about Grumland, which belongs to Vasily III. But the king of Denmark and Norway, Christian IV, who believed that these Arctic territories belonged to the Norwegians for centuries and were called Svalbard, joined the dispute.

As an argument, a squeeze was cited from an old Norwegian chronicle that in 1194 Scandinavian sailors discovered a land not far from Iceland, which they called "Svalbard" ("cold shores"). In the 20th century, researchers questioned this fact.

Perhaps someone sailed from Iceland at the end of the 12th century and stumbled upon some “cold shores”, however, most likely, brave sailors then called Svalbard the area in eastern Greenland or Jan Mayen Island, which have nothing to do with Svalbard.

It is not known whether the British believed in the Norwegian legend, but in 1614 they offered the monarch of the Danish-Norwegian state to buy a monopoly on the island. Christian IV rejected the offer, and in 1615 3 Scandinavian warriors landed on Spitsbergen in order to collect tribute from the international whalers who settled there. True, the harpoon workers sent the Norwegians home.

By that time, the Dutch whaling North Greenland Company had agreed with the British "Muscovites" on the division of the archipelago into two spheres of influence. Insignificant "pieces" also went to the French and Danes. The Dutch took up the development of Svalbard with maximum intensity. Soon, the settlement of whalers Smeerenburg grew on the island of Amsterdam, where up to 200 people worked during the season.

The British mastered more sluggishly, and then the Muscovy company fell into a difficult financial situation, which allowed the Dutch to actually establish a monopoly on fishing. After Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich deprived the “Muscovites” of all privileges in Russia, only a few Englishmen remained in the archipelago. Well, then the whales ended, and with them the British and the Dutch also disappeared.

The archipelago fell into disrepair. What about Pomors? Where were Grumant's discoverers all this time? The sailors of the Russian North were always there. For example, in almost all Arctic expeditions of the Muscovy Company there was always a Russian guide, a pilot, or, as the Pomors themselves called it, a “ship's leader”. After the British, the Pomors began to be hired by the Dutch, the French, and the Danes.

In addition, every year Pomor hunters went to the archipelago to kill walruses and seals, since the Pomors were not interested in whaling. And Russian sailors also set up their famous navigational wooden crosses on the archipelago, which everyone was guided by.

In those days, it was the Pomeranian cross that was a kind of marker that "Grumant is Russian land, and you, whalers and skilled blubber traders, are just guests." Interest in the archipelago took a new direction when, in 1800, the skipper of the fishing vessel Søren Zachariassen, returning from a voyage, brought coal from the Isfjord region of the highest quality.

It became clear that Svalbard could have huge reserves of high-calorie coal. Then the Swedes, Norwegians, Americans and Russians began to fight for the archipelago. Active mining of "black gold" was put forward as a legal right to own the territory.

Whaling ship, Svalbard, 1905

Russia, in order to consolidate its presence in the Arctic, has outlined the following mechanism: first, expand economic activity, back it up with a scientific study of the region of interest, and only then take political measures. And when in 1871 the Swedish-Norwegian government wanted a monopoly on the archipelago, Russia answered unambiguously against it.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia constantly adhered to this fundamental position on the issue of ownership of Svalbard: “The archipelago cannot be the object of the exclusive possession of any state, and citizens and companies of all states have equal rights here in socio-economic and scientific activities, which must be exclusively peaceful in nature ".

Russia began to actively defend its rights to Svalbard only in 1905. Then the Russian Foreign Ministry decided to "organize some kind of Russian enterprise in the archipelago, which is not formally owned by the state, which would demonstrate our activities in Svalbard and help the Russian government defend our ancient right to this territory."

For this purpose, an expedition led by Arctic explorer Vladimir Rusanov was organized. In 1912, he discovered a number of coal deposits, which later helped to protect Russian interests in the archipelago. As a result, at international meetings, three countries have always recognized the priority rights to Svalbard - Russia, Norway and Sweden.

The First World War and the October Revolution of 1917 excluded Russia from the struggle for possession of the islands. Norway took advantage of the "busyness" of its main competitor to achieve sovereignty over Svalbard.

On February 9, 1920, in Paris, Great Britain, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, the USA, France, Sweden and Japan signed the Svalbard Treaty, or the Treaty of Svalbard, transferring control of the archipelago to Norway.

Despite the fact that at the time of the signing of the Paris Treaty, Russia was in a state of civil war, Article 10 specifically stipulated the possibility of Russia joining the agreement: "In the expectation that the recognition by the High Contracting Parties of the Russian government will allow Russia to accede to this Treaty, Russian citizens and societies will enjoy the same rights as citizens of the High Contracting Parties."

In 1935, the USSR took advantage of this opportunity, officially acceding to the Paris Treaty. Currently, more than 50 states are parties to the treaty, including landlocked Afghanistan, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Switzerland.

Significant, by Arctic standards, economic activity in the archipelago in addition to Norway, according to the special status of the archipelago, is carried out only by Russia, which has a Russian settlement on the island of Western Svalbard - the village of Barentsburg, as well as the mothballed villages of Piramida and Grumant.

The population of the archipelago is approximately 2600 people, most of which are Norwegians and 500 people are Russians. The island has a completely visa-free regime, that is, representatives of all nations that signed the Svalbard Treaty of 1920 have the right to live and work.

Currently, Svalbard is one of the centers of polar and circumpolar tourism. In the 2000s, the World Seed Vault, the so-called "Doomsday Vault", was built on the island with the money of the Norwegian government. This vault contains a seed bank of both cultivated and wild plants, designed to survive even in a nuclear war.

Site materials used

WHILE searching for a northeastern passage from the Atlantic Ocean to China and India on June 19, 1596, the Dutch navigator V. Barents suddenly saw on the horizon a thin strip of unknown land stretching to the north. After some time, the teeth of a fragmented mountain range and snow-white ribbons of glacial streams appeared. Barents designated an unknown country with peaked peaks in the ship's log as Svalbard ( sharp mountains).
No one disputes the rights of Barents to be considered the official discoverer of Svalbard. However, the Svalbard expedition of the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences under the leadership of V.F. Starkov clearly proved that already in the middle of the 16th century. On Svalbard there were settlements of Russian Pomors, who then called the Grumant archipelago.

Spitsbergen Islands, Grumant

The history of the development of the archipelago is full of countless exciting events and facts. She owes this to the long-standing attempts to settle it, to the hunting and whale hunting, to the search for minerals, to the extraction of coal, to the famous polar expeditions. The relative proximity to the mainland and the relatively easy accessibility of Svalbard attracted hundreds of brave, inquisitive and enterprising people to it.

An indisputable confirmation of the role of Russia and its sons in the history of the exploration and development of Svalbard is the fact that today we see many Russian names on its geographical map. However, the very word "Russian" is very popular when designating various geographical objects - it is present in the name of a bay, river, valley, islands, etc.

Until the First World War, Svalbard remained a no man's land. But on February 9, 1920, at the Paris Peace Conference, representatives of the USA, Great Britain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Norway signed the Svalbard Treaty, according to which sovereignty over the archipelago was transferred to Norway. Citizens of the countries that signed the agreement were granted the right of free access to the waters of Svalbard, were allowed to engage in fishing and hunting, shipping, industrial and commercial operations on equal terms with Norway. The Norwegians were obliged not to create naval bases and fortifications on the archipelago.

In 1925, Norway included the archipelago in its possessions. Svalbard itself and the surrounding islands of Bely, King Charles Land, Nadezhda, which lies much to the south of Bear, as well as a number of smaller islands, were called the Svalbard archipelago by the Norwegians (translated from the Old Norse language - Cold Land, or Country with cold shores). Svalbard is a special administrative unit, 95% of its territory belongs to the state, and the rest - the so-called owners of the land by agreement. The USSR joined the Paris Treaty on Svalbard in 1935, and in accordance with it and the Mining Charter, we conduct economic and scientific activities in the archipelago. In Russia, as, indeed, in many other countries of the world, the new name of Svalbard did not take root.

Raudfjord Svalbard, Grumant

The islands of the archipelago are bounded in the north by 81, and in the south by 74 degrees N, in the west by 10, and in the east by 35 degrees E. The area of the archipelago is about 63 thousand km2. And although it has thousands of islands, islets and just rocks, major islands five in total - West Svalbard, Northeast Land, Edge, Barents and Prince Carl Land. The archipelago is washed by the waters of the Arctic Ocean, the Greenland, Norwegian and Barents Seas.

One of the northernmost archipelagos of the Earth - Svalbard - a classic country of polar exploration. Today, this archipelago is a convenient scientific testing ground for the development of new methods and approaches in many sciences, primarily geology, geophysics, glaciology, paleogeography, ecology, biology, and archaeology. Svalbard is the only one in our time visa-free natural object, where diversified international scientific cooperation has long been established and is fruitfully developing.

walrus, Magdalena fjord Svalbard, Grumant

GEOGRAPHY OF THE ARCHIPELAGO
Svalbard (German Spitzbergen), also Svalbard (Norwegian Svalbard), Spitsbergen (Dutch Spitsbergen), Grumant is a vast polar archipelago located in the Arctic Ocean, between 76 ° 26 "and 80 ° 50" northern latitude and 10 ° and 32° east longitude. The northernmost part of the kingdom of Norway. The administrative center is the city of Longyearbyen. The archipelago and coastal waters are a demilitarized zone.

The archipelago consists of three large islands - West Spitsbergen, Northeast Land and Edge Island; seven smaller islands - Barents Island, White Island, Prince Karl Land, Kongsoya (King's Island), Bear Island, Svensköya (Swedish Island), Wilhelm Island; as well as groups of islands, small islets and skerries (with a total area of 621 km²).

The largest islands:
Island Area (km²)
Western Svalbard 37,673
Northeast Land 14,443
Edge 5074
Barents 1288
White 682
Prince Charles Land 615
Kongsoya 191
Bear 178
Svenskoja 137
Wilhelm 120
Others (total area) 621
Total 61,022

mountain range Three Crowns Svalbard, Grumant

natural conditions
Mountain relief.
The highest point of the islands is Mount Newton (1712 m) in Western Svalbard. Glaciers occupy 35.1 thousand km² - more than half of the area of the archipelago. The coast is cut by fjords. Permafrost - layer thickness up to 200 m. Natural thawing of soils in summer ranges from 0.5 to 2.5 m.

Tundra vegetation - dwarf birch (lat. Bétula nána), polar willow (lat. Salix polaris), mosses, fungi, lichens and more than 170 species of vascular plants.

Of the mammals on the islands, only the polar bear, the Svalbard reindeer (the smallest of the reindeer species), and the arctic fox. Attempts to move other land mammals to the archipelago, in particular polar hares and musk oxen from Greenland, were unsuccessful. On the archipelago, there are an abundance of marine animals - seals, harp seals, bearded seals, walruses, beluga whales, whales. All of the listed animals (except for polar bears) are quite often found in close proximity to settlements.

There are about 90 species of birds on Svalbard, of which 36 constantly nest in the archipelago. The only species living on Svalbard all year round, is a polar (white) partridge (lat. Lagopus mutus hyperboreus). The rest of the birds fly away for the winter. southern countries, and return to the archipelago only in spring for nesting and breeding.
About half of the territory is occupied by nature protection zones: 3 reserves and 3 sanctuaries.

Large deposits of high-calorific coal are estimated at 10 billion tons. A unique feature of Svalbard is also a significant number of rocks with fossilized remains of plants and animals. In 2007, a Norwegian team of paleontologists managed to discover the remains of the largest pliosaurus Pliosaurus funkei in the archipelago. The high diversity of geological rocks of the archipelago is explained by its long migration through the Earth's mantle, during which Svalbard visited different climatic zones.

The modern climate is arctic, in the west it is significantly softened by the warm Svalbard Current (part of the Gulf Stream). The average air temperature on the coast is from +4.4 °C (July) to -10 ... -14 °C (January). Due to the influence of the Gulf Stream, winter temperatures in Svalbard are on average 20 degrees higher than in other places of comparable latitude. The maximum recorded temperature is +24.5 °C (July 1978), the minimum is -46.3 °C (March 1986).
The archipelago is located in a seismically active zone, earthquakes with a magnitude of 4-5 points on the Richter scale were noted, the possibility of earthquakes up to 6-7 points is expected.

Glacier Monaco Spitsbergen Islands, Grumant

Nature
National parks of Svalbard
The climate is harsh, the vegetation is not rich, the plants are low and cold-resistant. At the beginning of summer, the tundra is heavily swamped due to snowmelt, and the water level in the rivers is high. Basically, the southern part of Svalbard (zero zone) is free of snow in summer, although glaciers are found in the vicinity of all settlements. Red algae are often found on glaciers, giving the snow and ice a pinkish tint. Despite the round-the-clock polar day, the temperature difference between day and night in summer is noticeable and can reach 5-10 degrees Celsius. The first snowfalls occur in September, although snow is not uncommon at the end of August. Due to the relatively mild climate, Svalbard is also popular with tourists during the polar night, when stable snow and ice coverage makes snowmobiling possible.

Geological structure
As a rule, Caledonides participate in the structure of the archipelago. But they are more like the Caledonides of Greenland than Scandinavia. However, both are products of the Early Paleozoic Iapetus Ocean, which opened around the beginning of the Cambrian, about 550 million years ago. This ancient ocean was located in equatorial latitudes in the submeridional direction from 30° S. sh. (ancient coordinates) to the north, between the ancient continents Baltica and Canada-Greenland. Svalbard also includes more ancient rocks (Baikal folding). Apparently, this is a part of the Barents Sea Plate, which is of Proterozoic-Early Cambrian age. Most of the basement of Svalbard was formed somewhere on the active margin of the ancient Iapetus Ocean about 500 million years ago in the early Ordovician and is an island-arc igneous formation, strongly folded during the collision of the continents in the Silurian. By the beginning of the Silurian, the Iapetus Ocean began to shrink, carrying the Baltic towards Canada-Greenland, (450-440 million years ago) the British Isles, the island of Newfoundland and Svalbard, which experienced strong uplift and volcanic eruptions by the middle to the end of the Silurian. Then there was the final collision of the Baltic (Scandinavia), the British Isles, Greenland, Newfoundland and North America (Lawrence). The remains of ancient island arcs, limestones, and detrital oceanic rocks of the Iapetus Ocean were crushed and lifted up to 9,000–11,000 meters. At the point of collision of these parts of the world, a mountain range rose higher than today's Himalayas. 400 million years ago, Scandinavia was already connected to Greenland, and Svalbard was somewhere between them. The British Isles, Newfoundland and North America were also joined together. In the Late Paleozoic, granitoids were intruded in places. The current deposits of copper, chromium, nickel, titanium, iron, zinc, uranium and other metals that are now on Kola Peninsula, in Scandinavia, Greenland, Svalbard, on British Isles and on east coast North America, formed precisely in that era.

Seagulls on the Lillehoek Glacier

History
Presumably, it was first discovered by the Vikings or Pomors in the 12th century. It was known to the Pomors under the name Grumant; now this is the name of one of the mothballed Russian settlements on the islands. Since 1194, a certain Svalbard has been mentioned in Norwegian chronicles. However, there is no certainty that today's Svalbard was meant. It could be both Greenland and Jan Mayen.
In 1596, the islands were "undeniably" discovered and documented by the Dutchman Willem Barents, who gave the main island the name "Spitsbergen", which means "sharp mountains". Barents discovered on the island and in its adjacent waters big number walruses and whales, which gave rise to numerous fishing expeditions. Around the same time, the archipelago appeared on Russian maps under the name "Holy Russian Islands". A few years later, England and Denmark declared their claims to these lands.

blue whale Svalbard, Grumant

Whaling
In the XVII and XVIII centuries was used by various countries as a base for whaling until the whales were almost completely exterminated in this region. The center of Dutch whaling since 1614 was the village of Smeerenburg. Norway, along with Iceland and Japan, continues this fishery today, despite the moratorium of the International Commission on the Regulation of Whaling and the ban on the export of whale meat.
In 1765-1766, Mikhail Lomonosov organized two marine scientific expeditions to Svalbard under the command of V. Ya. Chichagov, however, the harsh climate did not allow the organization of permanent settlements on the archipelago and until the beginning of the 20th century Svalbard had no official Russian presence. Nevertheless, the Pomors maintained a seasonal hunting presence in the archipelago, and the most desperate of them regularly stayed for the winter.

After the decline of whaling and fur trade at the end of the 18th century, over the next hundred years Svalbard was actually abandoned and was considered terra nullius - no man's land, that is, despite nominal claims to it. different countries, in fact, was not controlled by anyone. A new wave of interest began only at the end of the 19th century, when year-round access to ports and a relatively mild climate made Svalbard the main base for polar expeditions and Arctic tourism.

Many famous explorers have visited the archipelago, including Fridtjof Nansen, Roald Amundsen and Ernst Shackleton. The northern part of the island of West Spitsbergen is named Andre Land, in honor of Solomon Andre, who in 1897 made an attempt to reach the North Pole on hot-air balloon. In 1912, Western Spitsbergen was also described and mapped in detail as part of the last expedition of the famous Russian Arctic explorer and pioneer of the Northern Sea Route V.A. Rusanov. Svalbard was also visited by the first Arctic tourists - wealthy Europeans, including the representative of the royal family of Monaco, Prince Albert.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, the economic situation on the islands has also gradually changed. Coal mining by American, British, Norwegian, Russian and Swedish enterprises led to the establishment of permanent settlements. Norway's sovereignty over the archipelago was recognized in 1920 when the United States, Great Britain, France, Italy, Japan, Norway, the Netherlands and Sweden signed the Svalbard Treaty in Paris. The Norwegians were in a hurry to secure disputed lands in the absence of their main rival - Russian Empire, which determined the unprecedented terms of the contract. By agreement, all countries participating in the treaty retained the right to extract and develop minerals in the archipelago. On May 7, 1935, the USSR also joined it, which by that time already had several workers' settlements on Svalbard.

Since the mid-1920s, Svalbard has become world famous as a base for polar aviation - for example, Roald Amundsen's flights on seaplanes with the money of the American millionaire Lincoln Ellsworth. On May 21, 1925, Amundsen leaves Svalbard for Alaska via the North Pole, but does not fly and returns to Svalbard. On May 11, 1926, the Amundsen-Ellsworth-Nobile expedition starts from Svalbard on an airship designed by Umberto Nobile. Having flown over the Pole (piloted by the airship Nobile), the expedition landed in Alaska. Under Mussolini, Umberto Nobile, already a general and an honorary member of the ruling fascist party, on May 23, 1928, decided to repeat the flight to the North Pole. Starting from Svalbard, he reached the Pole, but on the way back the airship crashed. Amundsen, who flew out in search of Nobile, died, and the surviving crew members of the airship were saved on July 12 by the Soviet icebreaker Krasin.

During the Second World War, Svalbard could not act as a full-fledged military base, so its population was evacuated, and the presence of German troops on the archipelago was limited to weather stations thrown from aircraft and submarines, correcting the work of German aviation in the Arctic. To eliminate them in 1942, a small Norwegian detachment was abandoned in the Longyearbyen region from Scotland on two ships Isbjørn and Selis. Despite the fact that both ships were destroyed, the Norwegians managed to gain a foothold on the shore. In 1943, to destroy this detachment, the Germans sent a detachment of ships from the battleships Tirpitz, Scharnhorst and nine destroyers to Svalbard, which destroyed most of Longyearbyen and Barentsburg with artillery fire (one of the coal mines set on fire at that time was extinguished only in 1960). The landing of the Germans on the coast was less successful. The Norwegians in the Barentsburg region resisted coastal artillery fire and retreated into the mountains to the village of Grumant.

In the post-war years, coal mining in the archipelago was resumed by Norwegian companies and Arktikugol, which also acted as the main representative of the Soviet Union in the Arctic. The gradual depletion of proven reserves in the mines of the archipelago led to a reduction in production everywhere except the Norwegian Sveagruva. As a result, the Norwegian government began to focus Spitsbergen on the development of tourism and expeditionary and scientific base. Arktikugol could not cope with the task of diversifying economic activities and in the post-Soviet period is subsidized from the state budget. In 2006 alone, the costs of maintaining the activities of the former Soviet concessions in Spitsbergen amounted to 395.6 million rubles.

Woodfjord Svalbard, Grumant

Current state
Although the Svalbard archipelago is controlled by the Kingdom of Norway and has been officially part of it since 1925, there are differences related to taxation (tax-free zone), environmental protection, protection of the rights of the local population and military activities (demilitarized zone).
There are two official languages on the islands - Norwegian and Russian; Russian citizens do not need a visa to visit the archipelago.

Coal mining in the mines is carried out by the Norwegian company Store Norske, as well as under concession by the Russian state trust Arktikugol (formerly the Soviet trust). Here (the Barentsburg mine) is the northernmost operating railway in the world, which is almost completely underground. Previously, there were several railways and they passed along the surface. All mined coal goes to heating Barentsburg itself, that is, the Russian enterprise is a planned unprofitable and partly an image project.
At present, Svalbard is one of the centers of polar and subpolar tourism; both large cruise ships from northern Europe and specialized ice-class tourist ships for excursions in the Arctic regularly stop in the port of Longyearbyen. The city has several hotels (including SAS Radisson), bars and good restaurants with arctic cuisine (for example, the Kroa restaurant "On the edge of the earth"). There is a very interesting polar museum and the Svalbard International University, there is a significant scientific work for the study of climate, geology and glaciology. In summer and winter, hiking, water (kayaks and boats), snowmobile excursions and expeditions depart daily from the city.

In the 2000s, the World Seed Vault, the so-called "Doomsday Vault", was built on the island with the money of the Norwegian government. This vault contains a seed bank of both cultivated and wild plants, designed to survive even in a nuclear war. In addition, the Berget plateau is home to the SvalSAT satellite station, the EISCAT incoherent scatter radar, and the KHO aurora observatory. Svalbard is connected to the mainland by a submarine fiber-optic cable, within Barentsburg, Kolesbukhta and Longyearbyen, there is a cellular connection of both Russian (MegaFon) and Norwegian operators.

city of Longyearbyen Svalbard, Grumant

Population
The population of the archipelago is about 2600 people (as of January 1, 2009). Of these, 69.9% are Norwegians, 18.3% are Russians, and 0.4% are Poles. The island has a completely visa-free regime, that is, representatives of all nations that signed the Svalbard Treaty of 1920 have the right to live and work. From a practical point of view, despite the lack of immigration and customs controls, the harsh climate and high cost of living in Longyearbyen effectively limit the labor migration of service and tourism workers. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, a number of former employees of Arktikugol moved permanently to Longyearbyen, while the population of Russian mining towns continued to decline in proportion to the fall in coal production.

The largest settlement is Longyearbyen, about 2,000 people, most of them Norwegians. It is also the administrative center of the archipelago.

Other settlements:
Russian mining villages: Barentsburg (470 people), Pyramiden (3-4 people in winter, about 15 in summer, mostly mothballed) and Grumant (mothballed)
Norwegian International Research Center Ny-Ålesund (about 30 people, more than 100 in summer)
the Norwegian mining village of Sveagruva (90 people, with more than 300 workers from Longyearbyen)
Polish research station Hornsund (10 people).
There is also a mothballed settlement-port of Kolesbukhta, which was previously connected with Grumant by rail along the coast. At present, the road has fallen into disrepair, and the tunnel near the village of Grumant is backfilled as a result of ground movements. Spitsbergen Islands, Grumant
Religion
Longyearbyen has the only active Lutheran church with its own clergyman. In Barentsburg there is an Orthodox chapel. In the village of Hornsund there is a Polish research station, consisting of 10 people. In agreement with the Russian Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church in Norway, the Lutheran pastor ministers to the faithful of these churches.

Economy
Since the beginning of the 20th century, coal mining has become the basis of the economy in Svalbard. At the same time, local coal seams, as a rule, have access directly from the slope of the mountains, and many places of coal occurrence are visible to the naked eye. This geological formation has given rise to numerous small mines and coal cuts along coastline, which opened and closed as the reservoirs were depleted and explored. The size of the settlements on Svalbard usually corresponded to the thickness of the nearby coal mines.

Norway
The depletion of the main easily accessible coal deposits by the mid-1970s raised the question of the economic feasibility of the existence of Longyearbyen, which by that time had already been subsidized by the Norwegian government. The Norwegian state-owned firm Kings Bay, which owned the settlement of Ny-Ålesund, found itself in a similar position. For this reason, the Norwegian government began an active diversification of the Svalbard economy and provided the inhabitants of the archipelago with tax benefits. In addition, in 1993 the mining town of Longyearbyen was sold to the national government, which concentrated on the development of a university center and tourism.

Currently, the only large profitable mine in the archipelago is Sveagruva, which is the main source of income for Svalbard (NOK 2008 million in 2007). Coal is also mined at Mine No. 7 in Longyearbyen, providing coal to the local power plant. The second most important source of income is tourism (317 million kroons), the third is the provision of scientific activities (142 million kroons). In particular, Kings Bay provides logistical support to about 200 scientists working in Ny-Ålesund during the summer season, and is also responsible for supplying other scientific stations. The tourist business is concentrated around Longyearbyen, where tourists from mainland Norway arrive (two flights a day), as well as cruise ships. All types of business within the Norwegian settlements show stable growth. In particular, a jump in hydrocarbon prices in the late 2000s ensured record production in Sveagruv (over 4 million tons per year), and the number of cruise ship passengers increased from 20,000 in 2005 to 30,000 people in 2008.

Thus, despite the Norwegian government's significant initial investment in airport infrastructure, seaport and academia, Svalbard is now fully self-sustaining, with an average annual income of 23% higher than the Norwegian average.

Russia
The exhaustion of the coal-bearing layer at the Pyramid mine in the 1990s put an end to the profitability of Arktikugol, which quickly turned into a subsidized resource. At the same time, the planned state expenditures for the maintenance of the trust amount to 870, 820 and 806 million rubles in 2008, 2009 and 2010, and the activity is reduced to maintaining the life of Barentsburg, which has been extracting coal only for its own consumption since 2006. Despite this, Arktikugol's management regularly announces the imminent resumption of mining at Pyramiden or Grumant, a position supported in part by Norwegian miners. From a political point of view, an open coal mining license for a Russian enterprise facilitates the functioning of Sveagruva, often criticized by the Norwegian Green Party, which has already achieved a ban on oil production in the Svalbard region.

The village of Barentsburg itself is not of long-term tourist interest - despite frequent summer boat trips from Longyearbyen, most tourists visit the Russian settlement for no more than a couple of hours. The development of an independent tour operator infrastructure in Barentsburg and a scientific and logistics base in Pyramiden is hampered by both the lack of ground communication with the airport and the state monopoly on the use of buildings and structures of the FSUE GT Arktikugol settlements. In addition, Barentsburg does not have a repair and logistics base for basing the most demanded (small) ice-class cruise fleet, and suitable vessels of the former Soviet scientific fleet are leased (Akademik Multanovsky, Professor Molchanov) from foreign companies, or sold to foreign companies. tour operators: Polar Pioneer - former "Akademik Shuleikin", "Akademik Shokalsky", Spirit of Enderby - former "Professor Khromov".

In the long term, the ice-free port of Barentsburg can be used as a base for servicing the Northern Sea Route, increasing the likelihood of timely provision of icebreaking support and reducing the risks associated with ice damage to ships. The development of Barentsburg in this direction is hampered by both the lack of a road to Longyearbyen and the outdated format of Russia's economic activity in the region.

polar bear, Kongsfjord Svalbard, Grumant

Tourism
The archipelago of Spitsbergen (Svalbard) is a territory of Norway and is governed by a Norwegian governor (Norwegian Sysselmannen), who sets quite strict rules for tourism. In particular, tourist helicopter excursions are prohibited on Svalbard. In addition, wild animals (including polar bears) must not be disturbed, and all lethal use of weapons is investigated by the police. Also under protection are traces of human activity earlier than 1946.

For security independent travel in the archipelago, tourists are required to obtain permission to go outside the zero zone (which includes Longyearbyen, Barentsburg, Grumant and Pyramid), as well as have insurance and communicate using satellite phones or radio stations. The standard walking route in the zero zone is from Longyearbyen through the Adventdalen valley to Kolesbuchta, then to Grumant and back through the Bjorndalen valley. There are also hiking trails around the Isfjord and Pyramid glaciers, the transfer is made by "zodiacs" with passing tourist ships of the Barentsburg - Longyearbyen - Pyramid line.

Most polar tourists arrive in Svalbard during the polar day, from March to August. In spring, snowmobile and ski trails are most popular, while in July-August hiking expeditions are the most popular. During the polar day, the temperature in Svalbard averages about five degrees Celsius, although snowfalls are also not uncommon. In May-June, the tundra is very swampy and the main tourist routes pass through glaciers and fjords (in kayaks).

The development of Arctic cruises gave a good impetus to the hotel industry of Longyearbyen, which registered 93 thousand guests in 2008 at a fairly high cost. hotel rooms(from 120 USD). Despite the fact that there are no economy class hotels in the city, tourists can stay in a hostel or campsite right in front of the airport. There is also a hotel in Barentsburg, but it is not very popular due to the underdevelopment of the tourism industry in the village.

Weapons and hunting
Svalbard (including Longyearbyen) is on the seasonal polar bear migration route to the pack ice. Despite the fact that the probability of meeting a bear on a polar day at the 78th parallel is small, it is customary in the archipelago to carry large-caliber weapons (rifled or smooth-bore) when leaving Longyearbyen. It is also recommended to have a flare gun with you and to protect the places of overnight stay with flare mines. There are several sports shops in the city that rent weapons and ammunition to tourists. In 2009, the governor of Svalbard introduced a new rule for renting weapons, for which you must provide a certificate from the police of the country of permanent residence.
A large number of animals live on the archipelago (including Svalbard reindeer), but hunting requires a license from the governor in advance. Spitsbergen Islands, Grumant

Russian projects and prospects
Despite the complete openness of the archipelago to everyone who wants to live and work, there is practically no private Russian business in Svalbard. At the same time, Russian state property is used extremely inefficiently and requires costs, both to maintain and maintain jurisdiction (Norwegian law sets a maximum period of abandonment of objects). To justify the permanent subsidies, the management of Arktikugol brought up various projects for discussion: including the resumption of coal mining in Grumant and Pyramiden, the development of Barentsburg as a fishing base, etc. for example, the surface road Barentsburg - Longyearbyen, or the restoration railway Grumant - Kolesbukhta) are unknown.

In addition, exotic projects were periodically voiced in the Russian media: the construction of ophthalmological and balneological centers in Barentsburg (a powerful source of mineral water), the extraction of semi-precious stones, the processing of fish in a factory staffed by labor migrants, the regular extraction and primary processing of algae for the needs of poultry farming as a food additive to bird food, and so on. Spitsbergen Islands, Grumant

LAND OF MOUNTAINS AND GLACIERS

VISA FREE NATURAL SITE

Due to structural features and a wide variety of geological formations, rocks of various ages coexist on Svalbard, from Precambrian to Quaternary, and, which is especially valuable for researchers, they are not hidden from the eyes.

In the first half of the Tertiary period, the archipelago was covered by the sea. The basins accumulated strata of sedimentary rocks with a thickness of several hundred meters. They contain the remains of fossilized marine animals and plants. At the end of the Tertiary period, the land rose and the islands were covered with broad-leaved forests, where, along with oaks, maples, ash trees, lindens and beeches, such thermophilic trees as magnolia, swampy cypress, plane tree and gigantic sequoia grew. The remains of this vegetation in the rocks testify that the climate in Svalbard was then much warmer and wetter than it is today.

About 3 million years ago, the temperature of air and water in the Northern Hemisphere dropped noticeably and the forest landscape was replaced by tundra. But glaciation spread especially widely several hundred thousand years ago. Giant ice sheets formed that reached the temperate latitudes of Europe and North America. At that time, most of Svalbard was covered with glaciers ... Millennia passed - they either retreated or advanced again. Their area has changed greatly, shrinking to modern and even smaller sizes.

Reserves of high-calorific coals in the bowels of the archipelago are estimated by Norwegian geologists at 10 billion tons. Since the 1960s, geologists from a number of countries have been actively searching for oil on the islands of the archipelago, and especially on its shelf - according to some reports, they are very promising in terms of oil and gas potential. This is also confirmed by the results of several exploratory boreholes.

On Svalbard, earthquakes with a magnitude of 4 - 5 points were noted. Seismologists admit the possibility of maximum earthquakes up to 6 - 7 points. The archipelago experiences vertical uplift of the earth's crust at a rate of about 5 mm per year. Due to this, sea terraces up to 100 meters or more were formed. Svalbard was once the scene of strong volcanic activity. In the north there are two extinct volcano, in the area of which hot springs and fumaroles operate. The archipelago is located in a zone of stable permafrost, interrupted only under the bottom of bays and in river valleys. The thickness of the permafrost reaches approximately 200 m. In summer, only an insignificant upper layer thaws - from 0.5 to 2.5 m.

Compared to Franz Josef Land, Novaya Zemlya, and Severnaya Zemlya to the east, Svalbard is closer to the Icelandic center of persistent low pressure. In the region of the archipelago, there is a boundary between the warm waters of the North Atlantic Current and the cold waters of the Arctic Basin. Most of the atmospheric precipitation falls in the western, southern and eastern parts of Svalbard, while the coastal strip several tens of kilometers wide is mainly moistened. While the amount of precipitation decreases sharply towards the center of the archipelago, the average air temperature in the same direction increases.

The harsh climate of the high latitudes of the Arctic is mitigated by the branch of the warm Norwegian Current, one of the branches of the Gulf Stream, running along the western coast of Svalbard. Due to its influence, the sea off the western coast of Svalbard is often ice-free even in winter, while eastern straits usually clogged with ice in summer. In the western part of the archipelago, thaws and rains occur in the midst of winter. The highest air temperature (24.5o) was recorded in July 1978, and the lowest (-46.3o) in March 1986. It is worth mentioning that Svalbard is characterized by frequent magnetic storms, sharp drops in atmospheric pressure and air temperature , strong snowstorms.

As with any region of the Arctic, Svalbard is characterized by long polar nights and days. From October 28 to February 14, i.e. more than 100 days, the sun does not appear above the horizon. But from April 20 to August 20 - about 130 days - it does not leave the sky.

Most big Island archipelago - Western Svalbard, its area is 39 thousand km2. It is a typical mountainous country with numerous spiky mountains and ridges. Although the mountains are not high (the highest point of the island and the archipelago Mount Newton reaches 1717 m), they are strongly dissected. In the east, the mountains turn into a plateau up to 800 m high. The western and northwestern shores of the island are indented with bays that go far into the land. The largest of them - Is-fjord and Veyde-fjord - wedged, respectively, from the west and north into the very center of the island, cutting it into two parts. The peculiarity of the western bays is that they often do not freeze until January-February and are freed from ice in May-June. To a large extent, this contributes to the establishment of a long sea communication between the mainland and the main settlements of the archipelago.

fjord Lillehoek Svalbard, Grumant

glaciation of the archipelago
An integral and characteristic feature of Spitsbergen is the extensive glaciation, the area of which exceeds 35 thousand km2. About 60% of the surface of Svalbard is encased in many meters of ice armor, which gives its nature a special beauty and attractiveness. The total ice reserve in the glaciers of the archipelago is about 7.5 thousand km3. The reserve of "solid" water, concentrated in glaciers, exceeds the annual flow of the Volga by 30 times.

Svalbard, Franz Josef Land, New Earth and Severnaya Zemlya are part of the same glaciological province. But Svalbard is the first among them to take on the heavy rainfall brought by cyclones from the North Atlantic to the Eurasian Arctic. Thus, the glaciation of the three Russian archipelagos and Spitsbergen are interconnected. In addition, elucidation of the conditions for the existence and development of active glaciers in Svalbard is important for understanding the patterns and features of the evolution of glaciation throughout the Eurasian Arctic. Polar glacier fluctuations are well known to be a sensitive natural indicator of global climate change.

The glaciation of Spitsbergen, extremely diverse in morphology, regime and dynamics, makes it a unique glaciological object in the entire Arctic. Here, as if in a miraculous fantasy museum under open sky, almost all the various types of glaciers that exist on the globe are concentrated. This diversity is due to differences in the relief and climate of the archipelago.

Most of the glaciers cover mountain valleys and plateaus, and the height of the surface of glaciers rarely exceeds 1000 m. In winter, many glaciers have internal and subglacial runoff and periglacial icings. The presence of water lubrication stimulates the sliding of ice masses, which contributes to their mechanical instability. Ultimately, this causes a sharp regular movement (pulsation) of the glacier - surge. There are over 50 surging glaciers on Svalbard. The most unstable of them have a two-layer structure of "cold" and "warm" water-containing ice.

Of particular interest to glaciologists is the net (or Svalbard) glaciation. From the air, it may seem like a giant chessboard, where the white fields are glacial streams that have filled more than half the system of valleys of the region and are connected to each other in the upper reaches, and the black fields are separate sharp peaks and mountain ridges sticking out of the ice.

According to the nature of glaciation, the entire territory of Svalbard is divided into three large regions. The first, ice cover, is the island of North-Eastern Earth. Most (80%) of this second largest island of the archipelago is occupied by three significant ice domes (Austfonna, Vestfonna and Serfonna) with a total area of about 11 thousand km2. The volume of ice concentrated in them is 44% of the total volume of ice on the archipelago. Mountain-cover glaciation occurs on the islands of Western Svalbard, Prince Karl Land, Barents and Edge. The bulk of the glaciers of the archipelago (more than 60%) is located on the island of Western Spitsbergen. The region of mountain glaciation occupies the middle central part of this island, stretching from south to north.

The practical study of the glaciers of the archipelago is caused by the need to know the features of their regime and structure when designing settlements, mines, roads, bridges, transmission lines ... This is also required to account for the valuable reserves of "solid" water, because most of the settlements of Svalbard are used for drinking and economic activity melted snow and glacial waters. Finally, the glaciers can also be considered a recreational area of the archipelago, as they are a favorite place for the islanders to ride high-speed snowmobiles - snowscooters and skis.

World War II interrupted the study of Svalbard. A new milestone in research began after the work of the International Geophysical Year (1957/58). At that time, Swedish and Polish scientific stations were operating in the North-East Land and in the south of Western Spitsbergen. However, it must be admitted that until the mid-1960s, the Svalbard glaciation remained clearly insufficiently studied. There was not even a general summary of its glaciers. Comprehensive and systematic glaciological studies carried out by the expeditions of the Institute of Geography of the USSR Academy of Sciences on Franz Josef Land, Novaya Zemlya and the Polar Urals suggested the need for a detailed study of the Svalbard glaciation. The first glaciological expedition to the Norwegian archipelago was organized by the Institute of Geography in 1965. Since then, 27 expeditions have been carried out. During several field seasons, glaciologists of the Institute of Geography conducted joint research on the glaciers of Svalbard with colleagues from the University of Silesia (Poland) and the Norwegian Polar Institute.

EXPEDITIONS OF THE INSTITUTE OF GEOGRAPHY
Over many years of field work, the expedition members made hundreds of many kilometers of routes throughout the archipelago on foot, on skis, by boat and by helicopter. A huge cycle of studies of the internal structure, hydrodynamic regime and evolution of glaciers in connection with climate change was carried out. For the first time in the history of Svalbard, radar sounding and deep thermal well drilling with ice core sampling for various analyzes were successfully applied on glaciers.

Based on the delay time and the nature of the reflected radio signals, it is possible to determine the thickness profiles of ice and the under-ice relief, as well as to study the internal structure of the glacier. Radar studies of about 150 glaciers of various types and shapes were carried out from the helicopter. The greatest thickness of ice turned out to be on the dome of Austfonna (North-Eastern Land) and the Holtedal glacial plateau (north-west of Western Spitsbergen) - about 600 m. 60 wells were drilled in different zones of ice formation, including cores - 25.

The deepest wells that reached the bedrock were drilled on the Amundsen glacial plateau (southern part of Western Spitsbergen Island) and in the center of the Austfonna dome, respectively 586 and 566 m. climate change over the past millennium. It was possible to identify climate warming in the 16th century, cooling in the 17th - first half of the 19th century. ("Little Ice Age") and warming since the end of the 19th century. More than a century after the end of the "Little Ice Age" the glaciation of Svalbard is in relatively warm climatic conditions. Over the past few decades, Svalbard has been experiencing a slow cooling and, as a result, a slowdown in the retreat of glaciers ...

One of the main features of the activities of the expeditions of the Institute of Geography was the study of glacial processes throughout the archipelago in combination with stationary observations on several reference glaciers located in different regions. In 1995, together with the National Institute of Polar Research (Japan) on the Austfonna ice dome at 79o latitude. electromechanical cable core drilling was carried out and a continuous core was taken to a depth of 210 m for subsequent complex isotope-geochemical analysis. At the same time, a structural-stratigraphic description of the core, measurement of pH values and electrical conductivity of the upper horizons, well thermometry, pitting, meteorological observations and other studies were carried out.

At present, the Svalbard Glaciological Expedition is participating in the project "Mechanisms of interaction of polar glaciers with the atmosphere and ocean and the evolution of glaciation" (headed by V.M. Kotlyakov). The purpose of the project is to study the patterns and mechanisms of global and regional changes in climate and the natural environment of the Arctic, the regime and evolution of glaciers and ice sheets, the reconstruction of glaciation and climatic fluctuations over the past 20 thousand years and their forecast to identify the role of glaciation in changes in the level of the World Ocean. These works will be carried out on the basis of ice core analysis and numerical modeling in Svalbard, Franz Josef Land and Severnaya Zemlya. The summarized results should be included in the collective final monograph "Modern and ancient glaciation of the Arctic".

LIFE IN SPITSBERGEN

Despite the fact that more than half of the area of Svalbard is occupied by glaciers, there is a rather diverse life on the land plots located next to them. Botanists have counted more than 160 species of flowering plants here. In the short, cool summer, the surface of the rocky and marshy tundra is transformed beyond recognition in some areas. Rarely, but you can see midget trees. These are dwarf birches and willows, the height of which does not exceed ... 30, and the thickness is 2 - 3 cm. And their round leaves are no larger than lingonberries in size.

The fauna of Svalbard is not very rich. The most popular animal here, of course, is the polar bear - a powerful predator, a kind of living emblem of the archipelago. Indeed, its image can be found everywhere: on souvenirs, badges, calendars, pennants, clothes, bags, postcards, stamps ... It is interesting that the former owner of the Arctic was first described as an independent species on Svalbard more than 200 years ago by the English scientific expedition of Captain K .Phipps. The long-term polar station of the Polish Academy of Sciences, located in the south of Western Spitsbergen, is annually "visited" by 200 - 300 polar bears, which is associated with a long-established migration route. On the archipelago, many cases of entry of animals into settlements and places of basing of expeditions and tourists have been noted. Insidious attacks on people usually ended tragically. This danger should always be remembered in the Arctic.

The reindeer population is impressive in Svalbard. Until recently, hunting for him, like for a bear, was prohibited. However, now the governor issues licenses for large deer hunting. More recently, musk oxen were found on the islands, which were brought from Greenland in 1929. They acclimatized and multiplied on the archipelago. However, due to thick ice crusts on the surface, which arose as a result of alternating thaws and frosts in the 1970s and 1980s, it became extremely difficult for musk oxen to get pasture, and mass mortality of animals began. Near the villages you can see arctic foxes, and on sea ice- pinnipeds, mainly seals. In some places there are rookeries of huge walruses. Cetaceans enter the bays, including herds of beluga whales. Cod, haddock, halibut and other commercial fish live in coastal waters. In addition to fishing, shrimp fishing is also mastered. Charr is found in lakes and rivers, also known as Svalbard salmon.

The world of birds of Svalbard is rich. Most of them are connected with the sea. There are several dozen species of birds living on steep cliffs. Different types of gulls nest in noisy bird markets: guillemots, loons, sandpipers. The most common birds are guillemots, puffins or sea parrots. Eider is the most numerous species of ducks, it lives outside the markets, like loons and geese. Only the white partridge and snowy owl remain to winter in the archipelago. In open areas and near settlements nesting nests of aggressive long-tailed arctic terns are found. There are also very small birds from the order of passerines - snow bunting, they are the first to bring the welcome news of the imminent approach of spring from a distant mainland to the archipelago ... In order to preserve the easily vulnerable polar nature in Spitsbergen, national parks, reserves and reserves. They occupy half of the area of the archipelago.

Svalbard is the country with the longest organized tourism in the Arctic. It first arose at the end of the 19th century, when the Norwegian shipping company Vesterålen opened regular traffic on comfortable ships from Norway to the archipelago. The captain on the first of them was a famous sailor and associate of Nansen and Amundsen - Otto Sverdrup. Entrepreneurial people immediately built on the banks of the Adventfjord, where it merges with the Isfjord, a hotel with forty rooms and a post office. For lovers of polar exotics, they began to issue a special postage stamp with the image of a polar bear. But due to the high cost of rooms, tourists stopped less and less. Eventually the northernmost hotel in the world had to close.

On September 2, 1975, the King of Norway, Olav V, solemnly opened the airport on Cape Hotel (the name remains from the old hotel). Now, almost daily, mighty air liners arrive here from the mainland. With the advent of maritime navigation, tens of thousands of organized and hundreds of "wild" tourists from all over the world flock to Svalbard.

There is no permanent population on the archipelago; people come here to work for one or two years under a contract. Many of them come back again. There is a belief that a polar "bacillus" settles in a person who once got into the Arctic, infecting him with an incurable "disease" - love for nature and the exotic of the North.
In the administrative center there are offices of the coal company "Sture Noshke" and the Travel Agency of Svalbard, the Norwegian Polar Institute, the seaport, radio and television and weather stations, hotels, post office, bank, museum, hospital, shops, restaurants, cafes, a school with a swimming pool .. In 1994 Svalbard International University was opened! Dozens of cars of different brands (including taxis) scurry along the paved roads, schoolchildren ride motorcycles, mopeds and bicycles, and young mothers carry their polar babies in strollers. During the weekend, many Norwegians, being great nature lovers, rush to hikes - in the summer on boats and motor boats and in winter on snowmobiles and skis. Very popular are small cozy summer cottages scattered all over the nearby valleys and along the coast of the bays...

On the northwestern tip of Spitsbergen, on the 79th parallel, there is one of the most beautiful bays of the archipelago - the Kongsfjord. On the flat coast of the bay, near the pyramidal mountains and glaciers, there is a small settlement. Ny-Ålesund. Hence in 1925, 1926 and 1928. the famous expeditions of R. Amundsen, R. Byrd and W. Nobile started to the North Pole on airplanes and airships. One of the northernmost settlements on Earth, formerly better known as Kingsbay, owes its origin to the construction here in 1917 of the northernmost coal mine in the world. Due to frequent collapses and explosions of methane gas, which led to accidents, the mine was closed in 1963. Today, the monument to the memory of the dead miners, the mining museum, the old waste heap and a small engine that once dragged trolleys with coal to the port remind of this.

Nowadays, Ny-Ålesund has become the tourist and research center of Svalbard. There are scientific stations of Norway, France, Germany, England and Japan. Tourist and fishing boats often moor at the pier, and a small airstrip near the village receives local single- and twin-engine aircraft and helicopters making regular flights from Longyearbyen. On the eastern outskirts rises a 34-meter triangular openwork metal mast, to which the airships "Norway" and "Italy" moored 70 and 68 years ago. Not far from this place, on a low hill, grateful descendants erected monuments to the brave R. Amundsen and the expedition members U. Nobile, who died off the northern coast of Svalbard after returning from the North Pole. All these structures, as well as the village of Ny-Alesund itself, are silent witnesses of the heroic history of the development of the Arctic and Svalbard.

The third Norwegian settlement is located in the upper reaches of the Van Meijenfjord, a little south of Logyerbyen. In 1917, the Swedes built a mine here and named it Sveagruva - "Swedish Mine". Subsequently, the mine with a coal deposit was acquired by the Norwegians. Currently, they are mining here on a rotational basis, delivering miners from Longyearbyen by planes and helicopters. The mined coal is exported mainly to the "capital", where, after enrichment, it is sent further to the mainland.

On Cape Linnaeus, at the southernmost entrance to the largest bay of the Isfjord archipelago, the Norwegian weather station "Isfjord Radio" is located. It was built after the installation of a powerful lighthouse here. Now saturated with modern technology and automation, a large station is served by only three specialists and a cook!
Very close from here, on the eastern shore of the Grönfjord, perched on several mountain terraces of the village of Barentsburg, the largest Russian coal mine in Svalbard. In 1932, the trust "Arktikugol" acquired from the Netherlands Svalbard company "Nespiko" land plot"Barentsburg" together with the mine. Already in 1936, he overtook all other Svalbard mines in coal production.

Supply of Svalbard coal to the northern regions of the USSR and its navy in the Arctic becomes quite significant before the Second World War. But the Barentsburg and Grumant mines that were then operating, as well as the Pyramid under construction, had to be closed at the beginning of the war. People were taken to the mainland. The Norwegians were also evacuated. After that, control over Spitsbergen passed for a while to the Germans. In 1942, a group of Norwegian patriots landed in Barentsburg with the aim of preventing them from using the archipelago. The Soviet mine until the autumn of 1942 served as the main base of the paratroopers. From here, radio operators transmitted weather reports to England. German bombers regularly attacked Barentsburg. In November 1942, naval guns were brought from England. One of them was installed five kilometers from the village on the eastern entrance cape in Grönfjord. On September 8, 1943, this gun took on an unequal battle with the Nazi squadron led by the battleships Tirpitz and Scharnhorst. As a result of the attack, Barentsburg and Grumant were completely destroyed and burned. Longyearbyen and Sveagruva. After the war, they all rose from the ruins and began to produce coal again. However, the Grumant mine was closed in 1961.

At present, Russia, represented by the state trust Arktikugol, owns 26 land plots on Spitsbergen with a total area of more than 250 km2. Modern Barentsburg and "Pyramid" are highly mechanized autonomous mines. In addition to mines, they also include settlements, seaports, helicopter stations, electromechanical workshops, heating stations, car parks, television stations, subsidiary farms ... Sea vessels deliver coal mined here to the Kola Peninsula, to Arkhangelsk, as well as to Western Europe. In recent years, many post-war wooden buildings in the mines have given way to three- and four-story stone houses with all amenities, and the streets and carriageways have received normal coverage. Significantly improved life and such new buildings as large beautiful Palaces of Culture with cinema halls and libraries, sport complexes with swimming pools and stadiums, local history museums, hotels, cafes...

Good-neighborly relations have long been established between the inhabitants of Norwegian and Russian settlements. Miners regularly exchange various professional and tourist delegations and groups. Every year, in winter and summer, the mines host international sports competitions and amateur art concerts. Such meetings have become a pleasant tradition. This is always a noticeable event in the harsh life of the islanders, temporarily cut off from their home and loved ones.

At the very beginning of the 1980s, a scientific campus was put into operation on the southern outskirts of Barentsburg. In addition to the hydrometeorological observatory, it included expeditionary bases of the Russian Academy of Sciences and geologists "Sevmorgeo" from St. Petersburg. All this contributed not only to improving the life of the northerners, but also to the intensification of scientific activity. It remains to be regretted that the situation with the funding of scientific research, including in Svalbard, has sharply worsened recently. Suffice it to say that the glaciological expedition of the Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1996 included, in addition to the author of the article, only one more glaciologist. I really want to believe that this is not forever. After all, Svalbard remains a unique natural laboratory for solving many urgent problems of science.

THE TOP OF EUROPE - THE MYSTERIES OF THE ARCTIC
“The crown of Europe” is often called this mountainous archipelago, lost in the icy expanses of the Arctic. Some of its islands are located beyond the eightieth degree of northern latitude. Only the north of Greenland and the Canadian island of Ellesmere are even closer to the North Pole.
In the morning fog, sailors sailing from the south to the archipelago, it seems that the contours of the towers of medieval castles appear from the haze. It is the mountain peaks of Spitsbergen, reaching 1700 meters in height, that darken through a gray veil.

But then the ship comes closer, the fog clears, and a panorama of whimsically indented black rocky coasts topped with white glaciers opens before your eyes. In places, ice tongues descend directly to the sea, breaking off with ledges of transparent blue ice. Narrow winding bays are lined with foamy stripes of waterfalls. And in the depths of the largest bay - Isfjorden - the houses of the capital of Svalbard - the village of Longyearbyen glow with bright red, green and blue cubes.

More than a thousand islands are part of the archipelago. True, almost all of them are small, only five of them deserve the epithet "large". These are Western Svalbard, Northeast Land, Edge Island, Barents Island and Prince Karl Land. Svalbard is larger in area than Switzerland and could host two Belgiums on its islands.

The archipelago has had several names since ancient times. The Dutch called it Svalbard, the Russians - Grumant, the Norwegians - Svalbard. Modern journalists often call this region the "Isles of Mist". Indeed, Svalbard is one of the most "foggy" places on Earth. Even the famous African Skeleton Coast ~ the Namib Desert and the Bering Sea, notorious for its rains and fogs, cannot be compared with it in this respect. More than 90 days a year (a quarter of the year!) There are fogs over the islands. And in June-October every month there are from 12 to 20 days with fogs.
The fogs on Svalbard are so dense that you can't see anything even five paces away. Sounds are muffled, the outlines of objects are distorted, so that it is impossible to recognize even the familiar area. All buildings and large stones are covered with a fluffy brush of frost.

In the spring, during fog, one can observe an unusual optical phenomenon, which in the language of scientists is called "gloria". The low polar sun casts long shadows of objects on the veil of fog and low clouds, which are surrounded by a rainbow outline. The famous polar explorer Amundsen, who made an emergency landing on an airplane in the ice north of Svalbard, describes the glory as follows:
“Away from us, in the fog, I saw the full reflection of our car, surrounded by a halo of all the colors of the rainbow. The spectacle is amazing, beautiful and unique.”
From the board of the ship going to Spitsbergen, from afar you can already see the intricately jagged peaks of the mountains, for which he was given such a name (Svalbard - in Dutch “Sharp Mountains”). This name was given to the archipelago by the Dutch navigator Willem Barents, who discovered it in 1596. True, in fairness, it must be said that the Russian Pomors, two centuries before the Dutchman, used to go on their boats to the cold Grumant (as they called the archipelago).

One day, four Russian hunters, having landed here for hunting, the next morning did not find their ship crushed by ice. Russian Robinsons lived on Svalbard for six years before they were rescued by another Russian ship that accidentally entered the islands.
After Barents, many famous sailors and explorers visited the archipelago. Hudson and Chichagov, Nordenskiöld and Nansen, Amundsen and Rusanov laid their routes here. But the main contribution to the study of Spitsbergen, no doubt, was made by the brave coast-dwellers, who for five centuries had mastered the harsh islands. Until now, on the map of the archipelago, you can find the Russian Islands and Russkaya Bay, Mount Admiral Makarov and Cape Ermak, the Rusanov Valley and Solovetskaya Bay.

The uniqueness of the nature of Svalbard is determined by the fact that one of the branches of the warm North Atlantic current, the continuation of the Gulf Stream, approaches its western coast. The heated waters through the fjords penetrate deep into the islands and warm them. In February, the frost here does not exceed fifteen degrees, and the average annual temperature on the islands is six degrees above zero. (And this is at latitude 80!)

Therefore, the coast of the islands in summer is covered with a green carpet of tundra, full of bright colors. Purple saxifrages, yellow polar poppies, blue forget-me-nots and purple carnations delight the eyes of the inhabitants of Logyir and other Svalbard villages: Barentsburg, Pyramiden, Ny-Ålesund, Longyearbyen and Sveagruva on a long polar day. And the snowy fields on the slopes at this time turn pink in places due to the appearance of microscopic algae on them.
The wide valleys that go high into the mountains are filled with glaciers here. Their silent, dirty white rivers slowly (usually at a speed of a meter a day, no more) move towards the sea. At the confluence of glaciers in the fjords, the ice slides into the water and breaks off. This is how icebergs are formed. In some Valleys, where glaciers end before reaching the shore, short but turbulent rivers flow from under them, the longest of which is only 48 kilometers. In winter, they all freeze to the bottom.

worn out by glaciers Mountain peaks islands take the most fantastic forms. Thus, Mount Skansen resembles an ancient fortress, Mount Tempel is an ancient Indian temple, and Mount Pyramid looks like a stack of giant neatly folded bales of hay. The most famous mountain- Tre Kruner - has three peaks. Their names: Svea, Nora and Dana symbolize the brotherhood of the three Scandinavian countries - Sweden, Norway and Denmark. The truncated pyramidal contours of the three peaks are colored with clear horizontal stripes of yellow limestone and red sandstone.
Ancient Scandinavian legends represented Svalbard as a gloomy country of cold, darkness, snow and ice. The Vikings believed that this is the most inhospitable land in the world. But it's not fair. Compared to other arctic islands such as Ellesmere or Severnaya Zemlya and Franz Josef Land, Svalbard looks like a real oasis in the icy polar desert. It is inhabited by three thousand people, mostly scientists and researchers of the North and, oddly enough, miners. Coal deposits were formed here hundreds of millions of years ago, when Svalbard was one with Europe and its climate was incomparably warmer than today. Now Russian miners, in agreement with the Norwegians, are engaged in coal mining here.

But life on the islands can be found not only in human settlements. Reindeer and arctic foxes, nimble rodents-lemmings and white partridges are found here. A snowy owl circles silently over the valleys, and in the summer thousands of migratory birds fly here: ducks, geese and swans.

Most of the noise and splash on the coast. With a warm current, flocks of cod and herring, halibut and haddock come to the island, followed by seals: harp and sea hare. On the pebbly beaches under the rocks, fanged walruses arrange their rookeries, and in the open sea you can often see fountains of whales. There are still many of the latter in the waters of Spitsbergen to this day, although whaling fleets have hunted in these places since the time of the Barents and Hudson. Most of all are white whales and killer whales, but the famous narwhal unicorn is also found.
The head of this whale ends with a sharp two-meter bone outgrowth, similar to a horn. They say that Ivan the Terrible had a staff made of a beautiful, twisted narwhal horn (probably brought by Russian coast-dwellers from Grumant). The main seal hunter, the polar bear, also comes to the islands. The largest predator of the polar basin is now under the protection of the law and is not at all afraid of humans. Sometimes meetings with him end sadly for polar explorers, especially on distant islands.

And it happens that desperate radio messages like the following fly to Barentsburg or Longyearbyen from researchers working somewhere on the Prince Karl Islands: “Send a helicopter for evacuation urgently. Surrounded by nine hungry bears. Don't risk leaving the house."
The musk ox, brought here in the 1920s from Greenland, also took root in the archipelago. The herd of these mighty squat ungulates, covered with thick and long hair, to the ground, has grown noticeably in recent years, since there are no wolves on Svalbard, their main enemies. In severe winters, female musk oxen hide small cubs under their belly, where in any snowstorm it is warm and cozy in a canopy of wool. Now there are more than a hundred musk oxen in Svalbard, but in the beginning there were only 17.
The decoration of Svalbard is its wonderful bird colonies. Tens of thousands of kittiwakes, guillemots, guillemots, fulmars, puffins and cormorants rumble and bustle about on tiny ledges of sheer cliffs that break off to the sea. And predatory burgomaster gulls soar above the rocks, looking for prey.

There is enough fish in the sea for both seals and gulls, especially since near the western coast, even in winter, under the influence of a warm current, the border floating ice forms a deep bend, like a bay with icy shores, facing north. In the old days it was called Kitolov's Bay, since it was here that the whaling center was located. In other winters, there is no ice at all off the western coast, and Isfjord is covered with ice cover only for a month and a half.
However, the North is the North, and from October to February polar night reigns over Svalbard. Nevertheless, the archipelago does not become a "country of eternal darkness" at this time. In clear weather, it is illuminated by the moon.
As the great polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen wrote, “instead of the sun, the delightful radiance of the moon remains: it circles the sky day and night ...”. Moonlight is reflected by myriads of snow and ice crystals and allows not only to move freely without a lantern, but also to distinguish distant mountains. It is especially bright during the full moon.

And in December-January, in frosty weather, auroras blaze in the sky. Against the backdrop of a flaming sky, light patterns of the most fantastic kind appear, continuously changing their shape and color. You can stand for hours, forgetting to put on your hat, in the bitter cold, unable to take your eyes off the amazing play of colors in the cold sky. Words are powerless to describe this truly grandiose spectacle. What a pity that at this time there are no tourists on the islands! Because of the mere opportunity to admire the celestial flashes, it would be worth coming to Svalbard in winter.

I have often had the opportunity to communicate with people who have visited this distant archipelago. And all of them could not forget its severe beauty, dazzling white mountain peaks and the blue expanse of fjords, the deafening hubbub of bird colonies and humble charm tundra flowers, greenish-transparent walls of coastal glacial cliffs and colors of the northern lights ...
And when winterers, returning to their native land, set sail from the shore, they traditionally throw old boots into the water from the board of the ship - as a sign that someday they will return to this icy, but beautiful land.

Northeast Land

Northeast land is desert island in the Svalbard archipelago, in the Arctic Ocean. Refers to the territory of Norway. It occupies an area of 14.5 thousand square kilometers.

The surface of the island is a plateau, up to 637 meters high. Of the entire surface of the island, 11,135 square kilometers are occupied by glaciers. Mosses and lichens grow in ice-free areas. There are a significant number of fjords on the northern coast of the Northeast Land.

On one of the islands of the Svalbard archipelago in the village of Longyearbyen, a grain storage was built, which was called the second "Noah's Ark".

The repository is a huge structure in the form of an underground 120-meter tunnel. It stores all kinds of grain. Every country in the world has its own section. An unusual grain bank was created to keep seeds safe in case of a global catastrophe (nuclear war, global warming, asteroid impact, etc.).

The island was chosen for the construction of the “ark” not by chance: its remoteness from the mainland, geological stability, rocks and low ambient temperature (minus 18⁰ C) can serve as a natural refrigerator. Under such conditions, the seeds of cereals and legumes will be stored for thousands of years.

Norway, about Svalbard, Longyearbyen

Mount Pyramid

The mountain is located near the village of the same name in the former USSR, and later Russia, and for a long time served as one of the richest coal mines in fossils. In 1998, the mine was closed and the village was evicted to the mainland. Today, this village resembles an abandoned lunar station, and in the period from 1956 to 1996. it was a fairly advanced mining village with developed infrastructure and capital buildings quite suitable for northern conditions, suitable for housing and leisure.

Now the territory of the village of Pyramiden belongs to Norway. The Norwegians quickly adapted it to tourist facility and today they bring tourists here for quite a lot of money. But despite this, much more restoration work is required in the village. Today only 17 people live here.

The tourist season here lasts throughout the day from March to August, but even in summer the air temperature does not exceed 4-5°C. It is especially interesting and beautiful here in the spring, when there is still snow and you can ski. The movement of tourists is controlled by local authorities with a mandatory log entry and regular access to communication via satellite phone.

The mountain and the village are located in the southeastern part of the island of Svalbard, Norway

Northern Arctic Ocean

The Arctic Ocean is one of the smallest oceans on Earth. It is located in the northern hemisphere of the earth between North America and Eurasia. The ocean covers a total area of 14.75 million square kilometers. The average depth of the ocean is 1.225 meters, and the greatest - 5.527 meters in the Grenada Sea. The volume of water in the ocean is 18.07 million square kilometers.

Visually, the ocean can be divided into three natural areas: the Arctic Basin, the North European Basin, and the Canadian Basin. Thanks to favorable geographic location in the central part of the ocean, the ice cover remains intact throughout the year, while being in a mobile state. Given that the water in the ocean is very cold, only cold-resistant marine life can live here - such as whales, penguins, fur seals and many others.

Eastfjord

Indre Viidefjorden is a Norwegian national park located on the territory of the central-northern part of the island of Western Svalbard. It covers the southern tip of Vijdefjord, of which Austfjorden is the eastern branch.

Its feature is that it literally crashes into the island. It is a narrow, winding sea bay with rocky shores. Rocks rising from the water, covered with dense vegetation, and snowy mountain peaks - all this is Austfjorden. Its dimensions are 32 kilometers long and 4-6 kilometers wide. Geographically, the Eastfjord begins on the western side of Cape Peter Mann.

Simple tourist routes often pass through it, the purpose of which is to climb one of the peaks of the island. Both professionals and beginners who do not have special climbing skills take part in them.

The fjord is located in national park Indre Wijdefjorden in Svalbard

Abandoned mining village Pyramiden

Pyramiden is an abandoned Soviet mining village located on the island of Svalbard in Norway. The settlement was built in the second half of the twentieth century near the northernmost coal mine in the world. Its population reached a thousand people. But in the nineties, coal production fell sharply and the village was mothballed.

Now the Pyramid is a ghost village that has preserved not only buildings, but also many personal belongings of its inhabitants, left here as if in a hurry. The territory of the village is open to the public, but it is not recommended to enter its buildings without an escort - in order to avoid accidents. The pyramid is still the record holder for many of the northernmost things in the world - among such records are a monument to Lenin, a pool and even a piano.

The unusual disturbing and sad atmosphere of the abandoned city, as well as the extraordinarily beautiful nature surrounding the village, attracts tourists here in the summer. Especially for them, a small hotel is arranged in the village and a guide works.

Prince Carl Island

Prince Karl Island is a picturesque natural attraction in Norway, which is part of the Forlande National Park. The island is home to a large number of polar bears.

On the island, from north to south, there is a chain of Grampian mountains with pointed peaks. The highest point on the island is Mount Monaco at 1,084 meters. Among the mountains you can also find plains - the Forlanneletta Plain. At the foot of the mountains are several freshwater lakes and other bodies of salt water. 17 percent of the island's area is covered by glaciers, most of which descend into the Vorlannsundet Strait.

The land of King Charles was found by a Moscow expedition from the highest point on the island of Barents.

Forlandet national park, Svalbard

Barentsburg ***

Barentsburg is a mining settlement on Norwegian island Western Svalbard, in the Svalbard archipelago. It was named after the Dutch navigator V. Barents. Now more than 300 Russians and Ukrainians live and work in this settlement.

The village is isolated, with autonomous life support. The industrial and social complex of Barentsburg includes a mine, a thermal power plant, a hospital, Kindergarten and other objects. The residential settlement, housing and communal and auxiliary facilities are maintained by the Arktikugol company. Coal mined in the mine is used for the village's own needs, and is also exported. For tourists, a hotel with a bar and a gift shop is open in the village.

Here you can visit the museum "Pomor", founded in 1995. The museum, which tells about the history of the Svalbard archipelago from ancient times to the present day, has a geological exposition containing more than 33 types of minerals and rocks, the age of which ranges from 1-2 billion years to 5-6 thousand years.

West Spitsbergen, Barentsburg

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SOURCE OF INFORMATION AND PHOTO:
Team Nomads
"Country of mountains and glaciers" E. M. Singer.
http://vivovoco.astronet.ru/
Shokalsky Yu. M., - Spitsbergen // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: In 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg, 1890-1907.
Natalya Kozlova. Island of arrested ships // Russian newspaper: newspaper. - 2005. - No. 3904.
Zinger E.M. Country of mountains and glaciers // Nature: journal. - 1997. - No. 8.
Savatyugin L. M., Dorozhkina M. V. The Svalbard archipelago: Russian names and names. - St. Petersburg: Nauka, 2009. - 272 p.
Zinger E.M. Svalbard is an ice archipelago. — M.: Penta, 2006. — 302 p.
Chernyshev F.N. Russian expedition to Svalbard. — Peace of God. - 1901. - 261 p.
Kokin O. V. Relief and deposits of marginal zones of glaciers in Western Spitsbergen.
Starkov VF Essays on the history of the development of the Arctic. Volume 1: Svalbard / Ed. dr ist. Sciences A. K. Stanyukovich; Reviewers: Dr. ist. Sciences V. P. Darkevich, Ph.D. ist. Sciences V. I. Zavyalov. Institute of Archeology RAS. - Ed. 2nd. — M.: Scientific world, 2009. — 96 p. - 300 copies. - ISBN 978-5-91522-101-6.
Svalbard - article from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia (3rd edition)
Svalbard // Small Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: In 4 volumes. - St. Petersburg, 1907-1909.
Sysselmannen.no - Website of the Governor of Svalbard
The history of one city: Longyearbyen (Svalbard) on the "Echo of Moscow"
Russian site - Svalbard.Ru
http://www.photosight.ru/
photo I.Mikhailov, V.Balyakin, A.Vedernikov, A.Nasyrov, Mike Raifman, I.Litvak

The total area occupied by the islands is 61,022 km²

natural conditions

Mountain relief. The highest point of the islands is Mount Newtontoppen (1712 m) in Western Svalbard. Glaciers occupy 35.1 thousand km² - more than half of the area of the archipelago. The shores are indented by fjords. Permafrost - layer thickness up to 200 m. Natural thawing of soils in summer ranges from 0.5 to 2.5 m.

The archipelago is located in a seismically active zone, earthquakes with a magnitude of 4-5 magnitudes on the Richter scale are noted, the possibility of earthquakes up to 6-7 magnitudes is allowed.

Geological structure

As a rule, Caledonides participate in the structure of the archipelago. But they are more like the Caledonians of Greenland than Scandinavia. However, both are products of the Early Paleozoic Iapetus Ocean, which opened up around the beginning of the Cambrian (550 million years ago). This ancient ocean was located in equatorial latitudes in the submeridional direction from 30° S. sh. (ancient coordinates) to the north, between the ancient continents Baltica and Canada-Greenland. Svalbard also includes older rocks (Baikal folding), apparently, this is part of the Barents Sea plate, which is of Proterozoic-Early Cambrian age. Much of the basement of Svalbard was formed somewhere on the active margin of the ancient Iapetus Ocean, about 500 Ma, in the Early Ordovician, and is island-arc igneous formations badly folded during the Silurian continental collision. By the beginning of the Silurian, the Iapetus ocean began to shrink, carrying the Baltic towards Canada-Greenland, (450-440 million years ago) the British Isles, the island of Newfoundland and Svalbard, which experienced strong uplift and volcanic eruptions by the middle to the end of the Silurian. Then came the final collision of the Baltic (Scandinavia), the British Isles, Greenland, Newfoundland and North America (Lawrence). The remains of ancient island arcs, limestones, clastic oceanic rocks of the Iapetus Ocean were crushed and lifted up to 9-11 thousand meters. At the point of collision of these parts of the world, a mountain range rose higher than today's Himalayas. 400 million years ago, Scandinavia was already connected to Greenland, and Svalbard was somewhere between them. The British Isles, Newfoundland and North America were also joined together. In the Late Paleozoic, granitoids were intruded in places. The current deposits of copper, chromium, nickel, titanium, iron, zinc, uranium and other metals, which are now located on the Kola Peninsula, in Scandinavia, Greenland, Svalbard, on the British Isles and on the east coast of North America, were formed precisely in that era .

Legal status of Svalbard

In 1920, as part of the Paris Peace Conference, the Spitsbergen Treaty was concluded, which consolidated Norway's sovereignty over the archipelago, but at the same time, all states parties to the Treaty had the right to carry out commercial and research activities on the basis of full equality and the demilitarized status of the archipelago (Article 3). According to article 2 of the Treaty, Norway received the right to protect and restore flora and fauna, although concern for the ecological situation was not typical for that time. In Article 8, Norway undertook to create a Mining Charter regulating economic activity in Svalbard, while the charter should not give privileges, monopolies and benefits to any country, including Norway. In 1925 the Mining Charter for Svalbard was adopted along with the National Svalbard Law.

History

Presumably, it was first discovered by the Vikings or Pomors in the 12th century (it was known to the Pomors under the name Grumant; now one of the abandoned Russian villages on the islands is called that). Since 1194, a certain Svalbard has been mentioned in Norwegian chronicles. However, there is no certainty that today's Svalbard was meant. It could have been both Greenland and Jan Mayen.

Whaling

During the Second World War, Svalbard could not act as a full-fledged military base, so its population was evacuated, and the presence of German troops on the archipelago was limited to weather stations thrown from aircraft and submarines, correcting the work of German aviation in the Arctic. To eliminate them in 1942, a small Norwegian detachment was abandoned in the Longyearbyen region from Scotland on two ships Isbjørn and Selis. . Despite the fact that both ships were destroyed, the Norwegians managed to gain a foothold on the shore. In 1943, to destroy this detachment, the Germans sent a detachment of ships from the battleship Tirpitz, the cruiser Scharnhorst and nine destroyers to Svalbard, which destroyed most of Longyearbyen and Barentsburg with artillery fire (one of the coal mines set on fire at that time was extinguished only in 1960). The landing of the Germans on the coast was less successful - the Norwegians in the Barentsburg region resisted coastal artillery fire and retreated into the mountains to the village of Grumant.

In the post-war years, coal mining in the archipelago was resumed by Norwegian companies and Arktikugol, which also acted as the main representative of the Soviet Union in the Arctic. The gradual depletion of proven reserves in the mines of the archipelago led to a reduction in production everywhere except the Norwegian Sveagruva. As a result, the Norwegian government began to focus Spitsbergen on the development of tourism and expeditionary and scientific base. Arktikugol could not cope with the task of diversifying economic activities and in the post-Soviet period is subsidized from the state budget. Expenses for maintaining the activities of the former Soviet concessions in Svalbard in 2006 alone amounted to 395.6 million rubles.

Current state

Funicular for transporting coal

Although the Svalbard archipelago is controlled by the Kingdom of Norway and has been officially part of it since 1925, there are differences related to taxation (tax-free zone), environmental protection, protection of the rights of the local population and military activities (demilitarized zone). There are two official languages \u200b\u200bon the islands - Norwegian and Russian, citizens of Russia (like citizens of most other countries) do not need a visa to visit the archipelago.

Coal mining in the mines is carried out by the Norwegian company Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani and also under concession by the Russian state trust Arktikugol (formerly the Soviet trust). Here (the Barentsburg mine) is the northernmost operating railway in the world, which is almost completely underground. Previously, there were several railways, and they passed along the surface. All mined coal is spent on heating Barentsburg itself, that is, the Russian enterprise is a planned unprofitable and (partly) image project.

Currently, Svalbard is one of the centers of polar and circumpolar tourism, both large cruise ships from northern Europe and specialized ice-class tourist ships for excursions in the Arctic regularly stop in the port of Longyearbyen. The city has several hotels (including SAS Radisson), bars and good restaurants with arctic cuisine (for example, the Kroa restaurant "On the edge of the earth"). There is a very interesting polar museum and university UNIS, significant scientific work is being done to study climate, geology and glaciology. In summer and winter, walking, water (kayaks and boats) and snowmobile excursions and expeditions depart daily from the city.

In the 2000s, the World Seed Vault, the so-called "Doomsday Vault", was built on the island with the money of the Norwegian government. This vault contains a seed bank of both domestic and wild plants, designed to survive even in a nuclear war. In addition, the Berget Plateau hosts the antennas of the SvalSAT satellite station, the EISCAT incoherent scatter radar, and the KHO aurora observatory. Spitsbergen is connected to the mainland by a submarine fiber optic cable, within Barentsburg, Kolesbukhta and Longyearbyen, there is a cellular connection of both Russian (Megafon) and Norwegian operators.

Nature

National parks of Svalbard

The climate is harsh, the vegetation is not rich, the plants are low and cold-resistant. At the beginning of summer, the tundra is heavily swamped due to snowmelt, and the water level in the rivers is high. Basically, the southern part of Svalbard (zero zone) is free of snow in summer, although glaciers are found in the vicinity of all settlements. Red algae are often found on glaciers, giving the snow and ice a pinkish tint. Despite the round-the-clock polar day, the temperature difference between day and night in summer is noticeable and can reach 5-10 degrees Celsius. The first snowfalls occur in September, although snow is not uncommon at the end of August. Due to the relatively mild climate, Svalbard is also popular with tourists during the polar night, when stable snow and ice cover allows snowmobiles.

The population of the archipelago is about 2,600 people (as of January 1, 2009). Of these, 69.9% are Norwegians, 18.3% Russians and Ukrainians, 0.4% Poles. The island has a completely visa-free regime, that is, representatives of all nations that signed the Spitsbergen Treaty of 1920 have the right to live and work. From a practical standpoint, despite the absence of immigration and customs controls, Longyearbyen's harsh climate and high cost of living effectively restrict labor migration to service and tourism workers. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, a number of former Arktikugol employees moved permanently to Longyearbyen, while the population of Russian mining towns continued to decline in proportion to the drop in coal production.

The largest settlement is Longyearbyen, with about 2,000 people, the majority being Norwegians. It is also the administrative center of the archipelago. Other settlements:

Russian mining villages: Barentsburg (470 people), Grumant and Piramida (mothballed)
Norwegian International Research Center Ny-Ålesund (about 30 people, more than 100 in summer)
the Norwegian mining village of Sveagruva (90 people, with more than 300 workers from Longyearbyen)
Polish research station Hornsund (10 people).

There is also a mothballed settlement-port of Kolesbukhta, which was previously connected with Grumant by rail along the coast. At present, the road has fallen into disrepair, and the tunnel near the village of Grumant is backfilled as a result of ground movements.

Change ethnic composition population from 1990 to 2009

Year	Total	Norse	Russians	Poles
1990	3544	1125	2407	12
1995	2906	1218	1679	9
2000	2376	1475	893	8
2005	2400	1645	747	8
2009	2565	1792	470	10

Religion

Longyearbyen has the only active Lutheran church with its own clergyman. There is an Orthodox chapel in Barentsburg. In the village of Hornsund there is a Polish research station, consisting of 10 people. In agreement with the Russian Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church in Norway, the Lutheran pastor ministers to the faithful of these churches.

Economy

Since the beginning of the 20th century, coal mining has become the basis of the economy in Svalbard. At the same time, local coal seams, as a rule, have access directly from the slope of the mountains, and many places of coal occurrence are visible to the naked eye. This geological formation resulted in numerous small mines and open cuts along the coastline that opened and closed as the seams were exhausted and explored. The size of the settlements on Svalbard usually corresponded to the thickness of the nearby coal mines.

The exhaustion of the main easily accessible coal deposits by the mid-70s raised the question of the economic feasibility of the existence of Longyearbyen, which by that time had already been subsidized by the Norwegian government. The Norwegian state company Kings Bay AS, which owned the settlement of Ny-Ålesund, found itself in a similar situation. For this reason, the Norwegian government began to actively diversify the economy of Svalbard and provided tax benefits to the inhabitants of the archipelago. In addition, in 1993 the mining town of Longyearbyen was sold to the national government, which concentrated on the development of a university center and tourism.

Currently, the only major profitable mine in the archipelago is Sveagruva, which is the main source of income for Svalbard (NOK 2.008 million in 2007). Coal is also mined at the N7 mine in Longyearbyen, providing coal to the local power plant. The second most important source of income is tourism (317 million kroons), the third source is the provision of scientific activities (142 million kroons). In particular, Kings Bay provides logistical support for about 200 scientists working in Ny-Ålesund during the summer season, and is also responsible for supplying other scientific stations. The tourist business is concentrated around Longyearbyen, where tourists from mainland Norway arrive (two flights a day), as well as cruise ships. All types of business within the Norwegian settlements show stable growth. In particular, the surge in hydrocarbon prices in the late 2000s ensured record production figures in Sveagruv (over 4 million tons per year), and the number of cruise ship passengers increased from 20,000 in 2005 to 30,000 people in 2008.

Thus, despite the significant initial investment by the Norwegian government in airport, seaport and scientific infrastructure, Svalbard is now fully self-sustaining, with an average annual income of residents 23% higher than the average for Norway.

Russian economic presence

The exhaustion of the coal-bearing layer at the Pyramid mine in the 1990s put an end to the profitability of Arktikugol, which quickly turned into a subsidized resource. At the same time, the planned state expenses for the maintenance of the trust amount to 870, 820 and 806 million rubles for 2008, 2009 and 2010, and the activity is reduced to maintaining the life of Barentsburg, which has been extracting coal only for its own consumption since 2006. Despite this, Arktikugol's management regularly announces the imminent resumption of mining at Pyramid or Grumant, a position supported in part by Norwegian miners. From a political point of view, an open coal mining license for a Russian enterprise facilitates the functioning of Sveagruva, often criticized by the Norwegian Green Party, which has already secured a ban on oil production in the Svalbard area.

The village of Barentsburg itself is not of long-term tourist interest - despite the frequent summer sailings of ships from Longyearbyen, most tourists visit the Russian settlement for no more than a couple of hours. The development of an independent tour operator infrastructure in Barentsburg and a scientific and logistics base in Pyramiden is hampered by both the lack of ground communication with the airport and the state monopoly on the use of buildings and structures of the FSUE GT Arktikugl settlements. In addition, Barentsburg does not have a repair and logistics base for basing the most demanded (small size) ice-class cruise fleet, and suitable vessels of the former Soviet scientific fleet are leased ("Akademik Multanovsky", "Professor Molchanov") from foreign companies or sold ("Polar Pioneer" - the former "Akademik Shuleikin", "Akademik Shokalsky ”, “Spirit of Enderby” - former “Professor Khromov”) to foreign tour operators.

In the long term, the ice-free port of Barentsburg can be used as a base for servicing the Northern Sea Route, increasing the likelihood of timely provision of icebreaking support and reducing the risks associated with ice damage to ships. The development of Barentsburg in this direction is hampered by the lack of a road in the village. Longyearbyen and the outdated format of Russia's economic activity in the region.

Tourism

The archipelago of Spitsbergen (Svalbard) is a territory of Norway and is governed by a Norwegian governor (Norwegian: Sysselmannen), who sets quite strict rules for tourism. In particular, tourist helicopter excursions are prohibited on Svalbard. In addition, wild animals (including polar bears) must not be disturbed, and all lethal use of weapons is investigated by the police. Also under protection are traces of human activity earlier than 1946.

To ensure the safety of independent travel in the archipelago, tourists are required to obtain permission to go outside the zero zone (which includes Longyearbyen, Barentsburg, Grumant and Pyramiden), as well as have insurance and communicate using satellite phones or radio stations. The standard walking route of the zero zone is the transition from the village. Longyearbyen through the Adventdalen valley to Kolesbuchta, then to Grumant and return to the village through the Bjoerndalen valley. There are also hiking trails around the Isfjord and Pyramid glaciers, the transfer is made by zodiacs with passing tourist ships of the Barentsburg - Longyearbyen - Pyramid line.

Most polar tourists arrive in Svalbard during the polar day, from March to August. In spring, snowmobile and ski trails are most popular, and in July-August, hiking expeditions. During the polar day, the temperature on Svalbard averages around five degrees Celsius, although snowfalls are also not uncommon. In May-June, the tundra is very swampy and the main tourist routes pass through glaciers and fjords (in kayaks).

The development of Arctic cruises has given a good boost to Longyearbyen's hotel industry, which registered 93,000 guests in 2008 at a relatively high cost of hotel rooms (starting at $120). Despite the fact that there are no economy class hotels in the city, tourists can also stay in a hostel or campsite right in front of the airport. There is also a hotel in Barentsburg, but it is not very popular due to the underdevelopment of the tourism industry in the village.

Weapons and hunting

Svalbard (including Longyearbyen) is on the seasonal polar bear migration route to the pack ice. Despite the fact that the probability of meeting a bear on a polar day at the 78th parallel is small, it is customary in the archipelago to carry large-caliber weapons (rifled or smooth-bore) when leaving Longyearbyen. It is also recommended to have a flare gun with you and to protect the places of overnight stay with flare mines. There are several sports shops in the city that rent guns and ammunition for tourists. In 2009, the governor of Svalbard introduced a new rule for renting weapons, for which you must provide a certificate from the police of the country of residence.

A large number of animals live on the archipelago (including the Svalbard reindeer), but hunting requires a license from the governor in advance.

Russian projects and prospects

Despite the complete openness of the archipelago to everyone who wants to live and work, there is practically no private Russian business in Svalbard. At the same time, Russian state property is used extremely inefficiently and requires costs, both to maintain and maintain jurisdiction (Norwegian law sets a maximum period of abandonment of objects). To justify the constant subsidies, the management of Arktikugol brought up various projects for discussion, including the resumption of coal mining in Grumant and Pyramid, the development of Barentsburg as a fishing base, etc. for example, the surface road Barentsburg - Longyearbyen or the restoration of the Grumant - Kolesbukhta railway) is unknown.

In addition, exotic projects were periodically voiced in Russian periodicals, such as: the construction of ophthalmological and balneological centers in Barentsburg (a powerful source of mineral water was discovered near the village), the extraction of semiprecious stones, the processing of fish in a factory staffed by labor migrants, regular extraction and primary processing algae for the needs of poultry farming as a food additive in poultry feed, and so on.

Notes

Kovacs K.M., Lydersen Ch. Birds and mammals of Svalbard. Polarhandbok No. 13. - Oslo, 2006, 203 p.
V.V. Slavinsky Thermal regime of the lithosphere of passive continental margins on the examples of North-Western Spitsbergen and South-Eastern Australia // Materials of the XLII Tectonic Conference. - Moscow: Geological Institute (GIN) RAN, 2009. - T. 2. - S. 191-195.
A.I. Konyukhov How many Atlantic Oceans were there? . Archived from the original on June 3, 2012. Retrieved February 11, 2012.
http://www.norway.mid.ru/sp_ru.html About Svalbard. History // Official Web site of the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Oslo, Norway
ORTELIUS, ABRAHAM "Septentrionalium regionum Descrip.", 1570s
Svalbard's history - the cruise book from Svalbard. Norsk PolarInstitute. Archived
S. Patyanin // Operation Citronella. tsushima.org.ru. Archived from the original on February 17, 2012. Retrieved November 10, 2010.
PROBLEMS OF THE NORTH AND THE ARCTIC OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION, SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION BULLETIN ISSUE SIXTH October, 2007 . Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation. Archived from the original on February 17, 2012. Retrieved November 2, 2010.
"Language in Svalbard" - travel.ru
"Visas to Svalbard" - travel.ru
Order of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation (Ministry of Economic Development of Russia) of April 4, 2011 N 142 Moscow "On Approval of the Rules for Providing Subsidies from the Federal Budget to the Federal State Unitary Enterprise State Trust Arktikugol" Rossiyskaya Gazeta
"The Great Book of Catastrophes" Nikolai Nepomniachtchi ISBN 5-373-00693-9, 9785373006934
http://www.ssb.no/befsvalbard_en/tab-2009-10-22-01-en.html
Norwegian statistics data
Meet the Svalbard archipelago. What the numbers tell us Norwegian Bureau of Statistics
Shall we build factories in the Arctic? Murmansk Bulletin
Svalbard. History of domestic development of the archipelago

Literature

Natalya Kozlova Island of arrested ships // Russian newspaper: newspaper. - 2005. - No. 3904.
Nadezhda Sorokina Moscow will not weaken its position on Svalbard // Russian newspaper: newspaper. - 2006. - No. 4024.
E. M. Zinger Country of mountains and glaciers // Nature: Journal. - 1997. - No. 8.
L. M. Savatyugin, M. V. Dorozhkina Spitsbergen archipelago: Russian names and titles. - St. Petersburg: Nauka, 2009. - 272 p.
N. A. Gnilorybov Coal mines in Svalbard. - Moscow: Nedra, 1988. - 191 p.
E. M. Zinger Svalbard is an ice archipelago. - Moscow: Penta, 2006. - 302 p.
F. N. Chernyshev Russian expedition to Svalbard. - Peace of God. - 1901. - 261 p.
N. E. Koroleva, N. A. Konstantinova, O. A. Belkina, D. A. Davydov, A. Yu. Likhachev, A. N. Savchenko, I. N. Urbanavichene Flora and vegetation of the coast of the Grenfjord Bay (Spitsbergen archipelago). - Apatity: Ed. K & M, 2008. - 132 p.
Kokin O. V. Relief and deposits of marginal zones of glaciers in Western Spitsbergen.

History of mapping and archaeological study

Starkov V.F. Essays on the history of the development of the Arctic. Volume 1: Svalbard / Ed. dr ist. Sciences A. K. Stanyukovich. .. - Ed. 2nd. - M .: Scientific world, 2009. - 96 p. - 300 copies. - ISBN 978-5-91522-101-6(reg.)

Links

in the "Modern Encyclopedia"

Sysselmannen.no - Website of the Governor of Svalbard
Svalbard Tourism - website of the official tourist board
TopoSvalbard - interactive map by Norwegian Polar Institute (Norwegian) (English)
The history of one city: Longyearbyen (Svalbard) on the "Echo of Moscow"

A photo

The polar archipelago of Svalbard
Main	Geography · History · Population · Climate · Vegetable world · Education · Religion · Politics · Svalbard Treaty · Kings Bay Company case · UNIS
Transport	Svalbard airport · Ny-Ålesund airport · Svea airport
Companies	Bjornøen · kings bay · Store Norske · Arktikugol · Aeroflot (1973 - 1994) · Vnukovo Airlines (1994 - 1996) · Lufttransport · Scandinavian Airlines
Communications and media	Svalbardposten · Internet domain.sj · Svalbard Submarine Cable System
Settlements and NIS	Barentsburg · Longyearbyen · Nyubyen · Ny-Ålesund · Sveagruva · Byolsheoyya · Virgohamna · hamburgbay · Grumant · Itre Norskoya · Kolesbukhta · Kobbefjord · Leaguerneset · Pyramid · Sverdrupbyen · Smerenburg · · Yellow River · Himadri · Hornsund
Islands of the archipelago
Geographic features	adventdalen · adventfjord · Belsund · Billefjord · Valenbergfjord · vanmuiden bay · Vanmienfjord · Verlegenhukenfjord · Westfonna · Wijdefjord · Woodfjord · Land of Olaf V · Isfjord · Cronebrine · Cape Kremera · miserifellet · Nordenskiöldbreen · kapp linne · Kapp Payer · Kongsfjord · Crossfjord · Lifdefjord · Mandalenfjord ·