Spitsbergen under pressure

Posted on 23. March 2013 by Rolf Stange

Spitsbergen is currently coming under strong pressure – regarding the weather. The meteorological stations in Svalbard are registring record-high air pressure values, stronger than anything that has been measured in history of local measurements, which is partly going back into the 1920s. A new record has been established at the automatic weather station on small Karl XII Øya (-island) north of Nordaustland, where 1054,7 hPa were registered a few days ago, significantly more than the old record of 1051,9 hPa from 1929.

Northern Greenland has currently partly even higher values. The high pressure is responsible for a period of calm, clear and cold weather, much to the delight of locals and tourists. The forecast for the Easter weekend in Spitsbergen is, however, predicting clouds, but still temperatures well below freezing. The cold weather is also beneficial for wildlife and the development of fast ice in fjords and drift ice east of Spitsbergen. The north coast is still largely ice-free, due to the influence of more temperate waters that have come up with the West Spitsbergen Current (“Gulf Stream”) from further south. On the eastern side, the drift ice has recently even reached Bjørnøya (Bear Island), where the first polar bears in 2 years have already been seen!

High pressure over Greenland and the European Arctic. Image: mountainforecast.com.

Source: adressa.no

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