The extre­me wea­ther with strong pre­ci­pi­ta­ti­on last week has trig­ge­red more than “just” a few lands­li­des near Lon­gye­ar­by­en. Dama­ge was limi­t­ed to minor mate­ri­al loss at a dog yard near Lon­gye­ar­by­en (the first one at the road into Advent­da­len). More than 200 peo­p­le had been evacua­ted from their homes for seve­ral days in case of a major event.

Satel­li­te images have now shown that more than 50 lands­li­des were trig­ge­red by the rain­falls just in Nor­dens­ki­öld Land bet­ween Lon­gye­ar­by­en and Barents­burg. This shows the lack of sta­bi­li­ty of the ter­rain during peri­ods with strong rain.

Sci­en­tists expect extre­me wea­ther events like last week’s with very strong pre­ci­pi­ta­ti­on to increase in fre­quen­cy and magni­tu­de. Rain­falls of 50 mm within 24 hours or even more are, so far, unty­pi­cal for the high arc­tic (“polar desert”). This means that geo­mor­pho­lo­gi­cal slo­pe dyna­mics inclu­ding lands­li­des, snow- and slush ava­lan­ches and rock­falls.

This will be important know­ledge both for arc­tic out­door enthu­si­asts and city plan­ners. Last year, 2 per­sons died in their homes in a snow ava­lan­che that des­troy­ed seve­ral resi­den­ti­al hou­ses in Lon­gye­ar­by­en.

Sources: bygg.no, UiO

All evacua­tions in Lon­gye­ar­by­en have been can­cel­led. The wea­ther is calm and the aut­ho­ri­ties have esti­ma­ted the situa­ti­on as safe. Slo­pes that may pro­du­ce lands­li­des will be moni­to­red.

The way west of the cam­ping site towards Bjørn­da­len remains clo­sed. This makes an area inac­ces­si­ble whe­re many locals have lei­su­re huts. It is pos­si­ble to walk to the huts, which is, howe­ver, not prac­ti­ca­ble for many pur­po­ses. The huts will only be acces­si­ble again by regu­lar means when the road is ope­ned again or the ter­rain is sui­ta­ble for snow mobi­le traf­fic. Neither of the­se opti­ons is curr­ent­ly in view.

Some of the huts in this area will have to be moved or aban­do­ned. It has hap­pen­ed befo­re in Spits­ber­gen that huts end­an­ge­red by coas­tal ero­si­on whe­re moved. The most famous exam­p­le is Fred­heim, the famous trap­per hut in Tem­pel­fjord, which was moved away from the coast in 2015. One or the other hut bet­ween Ves­t­pyn­ten (near the cam­ping site) and Bjørn­da­len will recei­ve a simi­lar tre­at­ment and be moved at least to the other side of the road.

When and how the way its­elf will be secu­red or relo­ca­ted is ano­ther and curr­ent­ly unans­we­red ques­ti­on.

Source: Sys­sel­man­nen, local gos­sip.

Extre­me wea­ther with strong winds and a lot of pre­ci­pi­ta­ti­on has held Lon­gye­ar­by­en in awe during the night from Mon­day to Tues­day. The­re was a fear for lands­li­des from steep and lar­ge­ly water-satu­ra­ted slo­pes near are­as with living hou­ses and infra­struc­tures. Seve­ral roads were clo­sed and a num­ber of hou­ses were evacua­ted Mon­day after­noon.

The­re have been seve­ral minor lands­li­des, but no dama­ge except from com­pa­ra­tively minor dama­ge to a dog yard near Lon­gye­ar­by­en. The dogs in ken­nels at risk had been moved to other ken­nels befo­re, all ani­mals are well and safe.

On the coast bet­ween the cam­ping site and Bjørn­da­len, coas­tal ero­si­on is incre­asing due to high water and surf on unfro­zen ground. Seve­ral cab­ins and parts of the roads are at risk and likely to get lost on the long term.

The admi­nis­tra­ti­on, howe­ver, has deci­ded to keep evacua­tions upright until fur­ther noti­ce. Slo­pe pro­ces­ses take their time, and the­re is still a risk of lands­li­des. Peo­p­le are asked to stay away from steep ter­rain.

The mark­ed parts of Lon­gye­ar­by­en are curr­ent­ly (Novem­ber 7) clo­sed due to the extre­me wea­ther. Map © Sys­sel­man­nen på Sval­bard.

Source: Sys­sel­man­nen

Octo­ber had alre­a­dy been quite extre­me in Spits­ber­gen, with unu­sual­ly warm tem­pe­ra­tures and a lot of rain. The­re were mud­flows from Pla­tå­berg across the road bet­ween the church and Huset, the road was tem­po­r­a­ri­ly clo­sed.

Now it is get­ting worse: up to 50 mm pre­ci­pi­ta­ti­on or even more are expec­ted during the night from Mon­day (Novem­ber 7) to Tues­day. Below 500 m alti­tu­de the pre­ci­pi­ta­ti­on is expec­ted to fall as rain. Seve­ral roads in and near Lon­gye­ar­by­en are clo­sed and hou­ses in seve­ral roads are evacua­ted becau­se of the risk of ava­lan­ches.

The Sys­sel­man­nen has issued seve­ral war­nings. Among­st others, peo­p­le are reques­ted to stay away from steep ter­rain and from old buil­dings such as mines and parts of the old coal cable­car, which may col­lap­se in extre­me winds.

The dan­ger of snow ava­lan­ches in hig­her ter­rain is high (stage 4).

The wea­ther is expec­ted to calm down Tues­day mor­ning. Fin­gers crossed all goes well until then.

P.S. Per­so­nal remark for fri­ends of the aut­hor: our home in Lon­gye­ar­by­en is not in the con­cer­ned area.

The mark­ed parts of Lon­gye­ar­by­en are curr­ent­ly (Novem­ber 7) clo­sed due to the extre­me wea­ther. Map © Sys­sel­man­nen på Sval­bard.

Source: Sys­sel­man­nen