The adventurers Børge Ousland and Mike Horn are back on solid ground. The research ship Lance has reached Longyearbyen on Saturday and Ousland’s and Horn’s recent crossing of the Arctic Ocean is thus finished. They started in September at 85 degrees north in the Bering Strait sector of the Arctic Ocean, which they had reached with Horn’s sailing boat Pangaea. Horn and Ousland passed the north pole in October. They spent 87 days in the ice, not including the ship-based parts of the expedition.
The original plan was to pick them up from the ice edge north of Spitsbergen with Pangaea, but the operation turned out to be more challenging than expected. As it turned out, the ice-going Lance went into the ice to meet the adventurers. Lance had to move quite far into the drift ice and a helicopter had to be used for the pickup. Even Lance was then not able to leave the ice: the arrival in Longyearbyen, originally expected around 10 December, was finally last Saturday, 28 December, after about 3 weeks of being stuck in ice. A lot of manual work with sawing and carrying ice was done during attempts to get the vessel free. Out of 22 persons originally on board, 3 were evacuated by helicopter. Medical reasons played a role in this. Dynamite was requested to blast the ship free when the helicopter was scheduled, but the transport was finally refused for safety reasons.
The expedition has drawn considerable media attention, both locally and beyond. Svalbardposten was one of many media that covered the expedition in some detail.
The polar bear that had been in Longyearbyen on Thursday morning was back back early Saturday. On Thursday, it was pushed out of the settlement by the Sysselmannen with the helicopter to the south and towards Fardalen and Colesdalen.
Also this time, the Sysselmann was soon alerted and out with available forces. Again, the helicopter was used to scare it away to the south. This time, the plan was to push it as far south as Van Mijenfjord, 40 km south of Longyearbyen as the crow flies.
Also this distance, from Van Mijenfjord to Longyearbyen, is not much of an obstacle for a polar bear in case he (she?) decides to return. The Sysselmannn asks the public to remain alert, especially during late night and early morning hours (it is dark now 24 hours anyway, but there is little traffic at those times) and to stay inside in case a bear is seen in the area.
It was considered to anaesthetize the bear and to fly it away to an island more remote within Svalbard such as Nordaustland, but according to an official statement, the capacities for such an operation are currently not available in Longyearbyen due to the Christmas holidays.
Spitsbergen is polar bear country, even more so in recent years as the species has seen a remarkable recovery since full protection in 1973 after years of intense hunting. In recent years, it has become pretty normal again to see bears on the west coast of Spitsbergen, also close to the settlements. All of them had polar bears in their vicinity or even in the settlement areas in 2019.
Longyearbyen has now had a Christmas polar bear in town on Thursday morning. The bear was seen at about half 7 in central Longyearbyen. It was walking in the pedestrian area near shops, restaurants and dwelling houses.
The Sysselmannen (police) was soon on site and used a helicoter to push the bear out of the settlement to the south, up Longyearbreen (Longyear glacier), through Fardalen and into Colesdalen to be as certain as possible that there is no more immediate danger.
The incident shows that it is important to take the risk of meeting polar bears seriously. This is true anywhere and at any time in Svalbard, but especially during the dark season and in the early morning hours, when there is little traffic that would be likely to see a bear near town before you happen to meet it.
The dark season (polar night) began in Spitsbergen more than a months ago. Last sunday, the Advent season was opened following good tradition: the children went to the postbox under mine 3 (near Nybyen, the “father Christmas mine”) and left letters with their Christmas wishes. Then the lighting on the Christmas tree in Longyearbyen centrum was turned on, of course accompanied with a happy little ceremony where many people join.
The Christmas tree Longyearbyen.
The dark season is traditionally often a calm period – finally, you have some time to enjoy culture, such as the “Kunstpause” with various events within arts and literature over a couple of days in Longyearbyen.
Literature event in the old coal cableway station in Longyearbyen as part of the Kunstpause:
Elke Morgner reads in German and Norwegian from “The Terrors of Ice and Darkness” by Christoph Ransmayr.
The Polish station in Hornsund had a rather aggressive polar bear around for a while. Despite of various attempts with noise etc., the bear just did not want to leave. It actually attacked a dog that was so severely injured that it had to be euthanised later. Altogether obviously a pretty tough experience for the Hornsund crew.
Yesterday (05 December) a winter storm moved through Spitsbergen, bringing days of poor weather with a lot of wind and rain also to mainland Norway. There was enough snow and wind in Longyearbyen to make houses shake and push the avalanche warnings up the scale. But nothing worth mentioning happened in the end. Winter weather.
The adventurers Børge Ousland and Mike Horn are about to return from an expedition of several months across the sea ice in the Arctic Ocean. The have achieved a position north of Spitsbergen where they are about to be picked up soon, according to the plan. The expedition sailing boat that had dropped them off north of Russia does not seem to be involved in the pickup, but the Lance is in the area to get Ousland and Horn on board – they are keen on the term “rescue” NOT to be used. Well. Anyway, the Sysselmannen’s helicopter is always ready when it is needed. The adventurers can be sure to receive a lot of public attention, not the least in the local newspaper Svalbardposten which has covered the story already a couple of times.
It is mostly office season in the spitsbergen-svalbard.com publishing house. What I am doing these days while I am not travelling? Well, last week I had my annual short run of public presentations, which was good fun – thanks to all who came!
There is often the question why I don’t publish my books, at least the Spitsbergen guidebooks, as ebooks. Well, this is actually an idea that I have been going around with for several years now. And I have already spent quite some time with the technicalities that are connected to such a project. It does require some work and know-how if you want it to be good in the end, and obviously, nothing else would be acceptable. I am not going to bother you with any further technical details. Just one: if you want to publish an ebook on the large platforms, something that is critical for any such project, then you need a US tax number. In theory that should not be too much of a problem. In reality, I just got my second application turned down, altough I even had a specialised lawyer to help me. That is also a way to waste time, money and motivation …
So I rather spent some time to develop another couple of polar panoramas. Start here if you want to discover some new places in Svalbard:
Andréeneset on Kvitøya. The place became famous when the remains of the Andrée expedition were found there in 1930. In 2018, I finally managed to shoot a panorama here. It is not a place where you get too often, and then there is usually a polar bear hanging out there somewhere …
Seligerbreen (next to Monacobreen) in Liefdefjord. New land “thanks” to retreating glaciers and thus due to climate change.
Hamburgbukta on the northern west coast. A beautiful bay and obviously not unknown to the early whalers.
Kvedfjordbukta south of Hamburgbukta. A rarely visited but beautiful part of Spitsbergen’s west coast.
Dunøyane and Isøyane are little arctic paradise islands on Spitsbergen’s west coast, north of Hornsund .
Diesetsletta is a lovely, wide-open coastal plain north of Kongsfjord. It takes a bit of luck with the weather to get to such places.
Have a look at Finneset if you are interested in the history of Spitsbergen. This place had a whaling station and Spitsbergen’s first whaling station in the early 20th century.
Some more history, this time from darker periods: the wreck of a German fighter plane at Kapp Borthen.
Does anyone feels like joining me on a long tour with great views of arctic winter landscapes on the mountain Operafjellet?
Panorama (Screenshot) of Nordre Isøya, on the west coast north of Hornsund. Click here to find the real panorama that you can turn around.
And there is of course alway work going on with new books, updates of existing books, translations and so on.
Soon I will have more Longyearbyen kitchen slats and Spitsbergen driftwood picture frames in the online shop! It does take some time for things to arrive, especially stuff that does not fit easily in the pocket … the new picture frames are not yet available in the shop, but they will soon be there.
What is the bearded seal doing in Longyearbyen? 🙂
The Spitsbergen-reindeer, also known as Svalbard-reindeer, has seen a lot of ups and downs since it came to Spitsbergen from the Russian Arctic thousands of years ago. It became a sub-species on its own which is not found anywhere outside Svalbard. Nevertheless, it was hunted almost to extinction until it was finally protected by the Norwegian government in 1925 – soon after the Spitsbergen Treaty had given Norway the power to do this. Estimates of the reindeer population from the early 20th century are a mere 1000 animals – for the whole Spitsbergen archipelago!
Spitsbergen-reindeer: two strong males. Straumsland, east Spitsbergen.
Spitsbergen reindeer can disperse, and while doing so, they can cross glaciers, solid fjord ice and even drifting sea ice. Otherwise, they would obviously never have made it to Spitsbergen in the first place. But as long as they are happy in a given area, they tend to stay where they are, so it can take many decades until they re-populise remote areas where they became extinct in the past.
The local populations are subject to strong dynamics. Weather extremes are an important factor: in bad years, when strong rainfall on snow-covered ground in the winter with subsequent freezing covers the tundra with a layer of ice, many reindeer can starve to death later when the fat reserves are used up and the vegetation is still under ice. This is especially the case when the population is actually already too big for the area. In Adventdalen near Longyearbyen, the population has doubled in the last 10 years.
Other reindeer may die during accidents in steep and slippery terrain after winter rainfall. In the winter of 2018-2019, several reindeer died in the vicinity of Longyearbyen, where strong rainfall occurred in December. Some had obviously fallen down steep slopes, while have probably starved to death later. In such cases, local populations may experience a significant decrease. If such episodes happen several times over subsequent years, it may even lead to local exctinction. The event of the 2018-19 did, however, not have significant consequences for the local population.
Dead Spitsbergen-reindeer at Operafjellet, east of Longyearbyen:
the exact cause of death is unknown, but either falling down from a steep, icy slope or starvation are likely.
Next to weather fluctuations, climate change is an important factor on a longer time scale, moving from months and single years (weather) up to decades (climate): an increasing frequency of strong winter rainfall may make life more difficult for reindeer, while more luxurious growth of tundra vegetation can provide more food, supporting a bigger population. Currently it seems as if Spitsbergen reindeer benefit from increased vegetation growth at least in some areas. On top of that comes the population recovery after the ban on hunting in 1925, a development that is probably still going on as reindeer continue to move back to areas where there were no reindeer in decades during the 20th century.
It becomes evident that reindeer population dynamics are a complex matter which is influenced by a number of factors. Reason enough to have a good look at the current population. Earlier estimates where rather fragmental in space and time. Now, a team of scientists made a proper census for the whole Svalbard archipelago. Proper counts where completed with distance sampling of transects where necessary to cover large and mostly rather inaccessible areas. The group around biologist Mathilde Le Moullec has now published their results in The Journal of Wildlife Management.
Unusually large group of reindeer in Krossfjord, an area where reindeer did not exist during decades or even centuries.
The key message: the total population of reindeer in Svalbard is now estimated at a good 22,000 animals. The “exact” number is 22,435, with a 95% confidence interval from 21,452 to 23,425. In 2009, the number was still estimated between 10,000 and 11,000. Today’s larger number may at least partly have to do with an actually increased population, including an increase in population because of recovery from past excessive hunting, as a consequence of protection in 1925, but the better quality and the more complete spatial approach are certainly also likely to be a significant factor influencing the now updated numbers.
Today, reindeer are even found again in remote areas as Kong Karls Land, where they did not occur over longer periods, although they existed there before Europeans started to frequent Spitsbergen in 1596, when Willem Barentsz discovered the islands.
The population density varies a lot between different areas. Vegetation is believed to be a key factor. In some areas, they may be up to 10 reindeer per square kilometre – locally, even more – while one animal will need the same area or more on its own to find enough food in sparsely vegetated areas such as the polar desert landscape of Nordaustland.
A man from Longyearbyen got a fine of 15,000.00 kroner (ca. 1500 Euro) because he disturbed polar bears during a private snow mobile tour in Tempelfjord in 10 March, 2018. He is said to have approached the bear with the snow mobile to a distance of 70 metres so the bears were visibly disturbed and moved away.
The incident was seen by witnesses who were out on tour on the neighbouring mountain Fjordnibba. The man was soon stopped by field police. A second man who was also involved could not be identified.
Because of the increase of snow mobile traffic, the Sysselmannen has announced to take strong action in such cases to make it clear beyond any doubt that the protection of the wildlife is of highest priority. In the current case, the fine has been imposed by the state advocate in north Norway, as revealed by the Sysselmannen.
The case caused some debate in social networks in Longyearbyen. Only a few days later the fjord ice in Tempelfjord, until then a popular destination both for locals and tourists, was closed for most motorised traffic.
Polar bears in Tempelfjord (or elsewhere, for that matter): any disturbance is strictly forbidden.
According to the Spitsbergen environmental law (Svalbardmiljølov kapittel IV § 30) “it is forbidden to attract, to follow or seek out by any active act, polar bears so these could be disturbed or there may be danger for humans or polar bears (original text: Det er forbudt å lokke til seg, forfølge eller ved annen aktiv handling oppsøke isbjørn slik at den blir forstyrret eller det kan oppstå fare for mennesker eller isbjørn.)
The salvaging operation of the shrimp trawler Northguider, that ran aground at Sparreneset in Hinlopenstretet in Svalbard in the end of December 2019, turned out to be more difficult than expected, as reported recently. Now it has been decided that further operations are postponed until 2020, according to a press release from Kystverket, the Norwegian coastal and maritime authority.
Due to the new information about the hull being more strongly damaged than thought before, new planning is needed and probably new technology, while the polar night is about to start in these latitudes.
Grounded shrimp trawler Northguider at Sparreneset in Hinlopenstretet, august 2019.
In other words: nothing will happen with the wreck of the Northguider, which is still sitting on rocks just off the shore of Nordaustland, before the summer of 2020 – or, rather, nothing other than what the forces of nature, ice and weather, will do with the wreck. If there is then anything left to be salvaged in 2020 is something that only time can tell.
Salvaging the shrimp trawler Northguider, which ran aground in Hinlopenstretet in December last year, has turned out to be more difficult than thought before, as the Norwegian coastal adminstration authority Kystverket reports in a press release. The hull is more severely damaged than expected which makes the operation according to the initial plan impossible.
Northguider ran aground in late December 2018 at Sparreneset south of Murchisonfjord. The ship owner is required to remove the wreck within 2019, but this is now becoming doubtful: the polar night is soon to start, the sun will not rise above the horizon anymore for 4 months from late October. Shipping is not impossible during the dark season, but if a complicated salvaging operation can be carried out safely and successfully without daylight is an entirely different question.
Salvaging vessels and the grounded trawler Northguider at Sparreneset in Hinlopenstretet, August 2019.
The salvaging vessels arrived on location only rather late in the summer, and then the operation was delayed repeatedly by severe ice and weather conditions. Only recently the wreck could be turned into an upright position and then it became appearent that damages on Northguider’s hull are far more extensive than expected. An area of 12×5 metres is said to be impacted.
Now all the players involved, including the coast guard, Kystverket, the ship owner Opilio AS, the insurance company and the salvaging company SMIT Salvage have to come up with a new plan. It appears rather unlikely that this will all happen within 2019. Officials have already mentioned postponing the operation until 2020 as an option. But if Northguider will still be there in the summer of 2020, after months on end with ice and severe weather, and in a condition that allows removing the wreck, will remain an open question until then.
A new local government (“Lokalstyre”) was elected in Longyearbyen yesterday (Monday, October 07). The municipal council has 15 members and elects the Lokalstyreleder (“mayor”) from these members. Lokalstyre administrates the area of the community of Longyearbyen, but does not decide on the politics in Svalbard beyond Longyearbyen.
Most votes were counted Monday evening. The result is not yet final, but major changes are not expected anymore. According to the preliminary result, Arbeiderpartiet (Ap, labour party, social-democratic) received most votes and will have 5 out of the 15 seats in the future community council. Venstre (V, a social-liberal party) got a few votes less but will also have 5 “Lokalstyremedlemmer” (community council members). Høyre (H, conservative party) and Fremskrittspartiet (right-wing libertarian party) will have 2 seats each. The local branch of Miljøpartiet De Grønne (green party) received a rather disappointing result and will only have 1 seat in the future community council, something that has certainly also to do with their election campain – not much was heard from Miljøpartiet De Grønne in Longyearbyen during the months and weeks before the elections.
Arild Olsen (Ap) has been Lokalstyreleder (mayor) since 2015. Both Olsen and Terje Aunevik (V) have chances to take the mayor’s chair in the future community council.
The voter participation was 61.7 %. All inhabitants are eligible to vote after a certain period which depends on their nationality.
Longyearbyen Lokalstyre was established in 2002, introducing local democracy in Svalbard’s largest settlement. Lokalstyre and the mayor are not to be confused with the Sysselmannen (“governor”), who is the highest representative of the Norwegian government. The Sysselmannen is not elected but appointed by the government in Oslo.
Lokalstyrevalg (community council elections) in Longyearbyen.
The council meets in “Næringsbyggget” (left).
There have been regular polar bear sightings in Isfjord during the whole summer, both on the north side, from Trygghamna to Ymerbukta and Borebukta, in Billefjord near Pyramiden, but also near Longyearbyen.
This is an ongoing situation: there have been several bear sightings recently not far from Longyearbyen, in Colesdalen, Bjørndalen and Mälardalen. The bear(s) in Colesdalen and Bjørndalen may be one and the same individual, but the one seen in Mälardalen, on the north side of Adventdalen and just a few kilometres away from the settlement and road, is another individual.
On Monday (16 September), a man had to fire a shot from inside a hut at Diabasodden, about 20 kilometres northeast of Longyearbyen, to scare a polar bear away. This worked well and then the Sysselmannen picked the man up by helicopter to avoid further risks.
All this shows that it is very important to take the risk of meeting polar bears very seriously, also in Longyearbyen’s near surroundings.
Polar bear in Hiorthhamn close to Longyearbyen (archive image).
The local newspaper Svalbardposten has a little survey every week and this time they asked what people think about the increasing number of polar bear sightings near Longyearbyen. So far 790 people have given their vote, which is a lot for the Svalbardposten gallup. 500 voted for “we live on Svalbard so we have to adjust”, but no less than 241 chose “it is time to discuss hunting polar bears again”. These surveys are not representative and certainly sometimes the questions and the given answers show an element of humour and satire, something that may also be true for the votes that people give. This may explain at least some of the many votes that ask for discussing polar bear hunting again.
Polar bears were hunted intensely in Svalbard until 1973. The recent increase in numbers is, at least in part, still a recovery from those years when hunting polar bears was an industry.
The new Spitsbergen calendar 2020 is available now – for the first time, as a “2 in 1” double calendar. We just used the rear sides of the calendar pages that used to be white with older editions. So now we have, additionally to the 12 Spitsbergen images, another 12 stunning images which represent the other cold end of the globe: Antarctica.
Still, we have been able to keep the price stable. And as before, the double calendar “Spitsbergen & Antarctica 2020” is available in two sizes: the larger A3 format features prominently on the wall, while the smaller A5 is … well: smaller.
Malmö in the ice There are 35 % less ice in the whole Arctic Ocean than usual (a term that will most likely have to be re-defined soon), but in Svalbard, ice conditions are more as they used to be in earlier years. This means that northeastern parts of Nordaustland did not become ice-free at all this summer, and there is drift ice in southern Hinlopen Strait and south of Nordaustland.
The small passenger ship Malmö got stuck in drift ice in southern Hinlopen Strait. The ship is strongly built and can tolerate some ice, but the situation became potentially dangerous when currents moved the ice field towards shallow waters in the area of Rønnbeckøyane, a group of small islands in southern Hinlopen. There were 23 persons on board, including 16 passengers. The Sysselmannen decided to evacuate the passengers by helicoper. The crew could remain on board to take care of the vessel as there was no immediate danger. It is expected that the crew can navigate the ship out of the ice with the shifting tides, something that usually involves openings in the ice. The Norwegian coast guard is in the area to assist as needed.
drift ice in the arctic summer of 2019 – Photo on the subject of Malmö in the ice
The shrimp trawler Northguider, which ran aground close to Sparreneset on Nordaustland, south of Murchisonfjord, is still sitting on the rocks. The wreck is supposed to be removed.
This operation has now begun: several special ships are now on location to get the Northguider off the rocks and away. The sea area around the wreck has been closed for other traffic within one mile from the nearby shore to make sure the crews will not be disturbed during their work.
The crew of the Northguider could be saved after the grounding after several dramatic hours thanks to luck and the skill of the Norwegian SAR forces who came with two helicopters. Fingers crossed that the salvaging operations will be equally successful!
The Spitsbergen kitchen slats are available again: a small number of all kinds has found its way from the workshop in Longyearbyen to the spitsbergen-svalbard.com shipping department near the Baltic Sea coast in Germany.
Spitsbergen kitchen slats from Longyearbyen, in Longyearbyen.
The slats are made from strong oak wood in Wolfgang Zach’s carpenters’ workshop in Longyearbyen. Their design is inspired by arctic wildlife: there is the polar bear (of course!), the walrus, the Spitsbergen reindeer, the whale (whichever kind of large baleen whale you like ☺) and the bearded seal. The latest addition is the polar fox, which is here available for the first time outside Longyearbyen. And finally, on my personal request (I am a geographer, after all) my favourite, the slat with the map of Spitsbergen.
Spitsbergen kitchen slats from Longyearbyen: the whole collection.
A must-have! 🙂
The summer is currently going calmy in Spitsbergen, mostly. Which is a good thing. The heat wave that seems to numb large parts of central Europe these days is not much of an issue in Spitsbergen. It is warm up there as well, around 10 degrees centigrade, and up 13 degrees are expected for tomorrow (Sunday) according to the Norwegian forecast on yr.no – pleasant temperatures, if you ask me. Certainly warm summer days in the Arctic, but not a record-breaking heatwave.
There is an ongoing debate in Longyearbyen about cruise ship traffic and tourists. There are days when several thousands of them are flooding the place, which has about 2500 inhabitants. No surprise that this is controversial.
People are also discussing when the champagne glass might break. This is a pretty conspicuous snow-field that you can see on Operafjellet, east of Longyearbyen. It has the shape of a champagne glass. When the snow-melt has advanced far enough, then the stem will “break”. Once this is the case, then it is summer in Longyearbyen, according to an old tradition. There is an annual competition arranged by Svalbardposten, the local newspaper, where you can have your guess when exactly the stem will break. This is usually the case in late July.
The “champagne glass” on Operafjellet east of Longyearbyen.
The first local initiative to arrange a pride parade in Longyearbyen is largely met with enthusiasm, but there are also some critical voices on the usual social media platforms, including some hate comments. Well, why should people in the Arctic generally be any better than elsewhere in the world.
Nature lovers amongst locals and tourists are currently enjoying many encounters with whales in Isfjord and elsewhere, including blue whales, fin whales, humpback whales and white whales (belugas). And there are some rare visitors to the Longyearbyen area. Currently, there is a group of ruddy shelduck, which according to Wikipedia have their “main breeding area … from southeast Europe across central Asia to Lake Baikal, Mongolia, and western China”. This does obviously not include Spitsbergen, so the ruddy shelducks that are regularly seen these days between Bjørndalen and Adventdalen have lost track. It is, as far as we know, the second time that this species is observed in Spitsbergen. And it is not the only recent rare bird sighting. There has been that tundra swan in Adventdalen and a tufted puffin on Bjørnøya. According to experts, this increase of rarity observations indicates an increased density of observers out in the field rather than any changes in the natural world. This is a good thing – we are out there in nature and we are learning while being there.
All in all, it is the usual walk of life in the Arctic as of 2019.
This leaves some time to get other things done as well. The Spitsbergen panorama selection has received some new entrants:
New Spitsbergen-panoramas
Fjortende Julibukta in Krossfjord, captured during the recent voyage with Antigua in July. A beautiful places with many flowers, an impressive glacier, a bird cliff and generally stunning scenery, and a popular destination for expedition ships.
Markhambreen on the east coast of Spitsbergen. A very interesting place with a fascinating landscape development, and definitely well off the trodden path.
Nye gruve 2 (new mine 2) in Longyearbyen, also called father christmas mine (julenissegruve in Norwegian).
Markhambreen: a rarely visited glacier on the east coast of Spitsbergen. One of several new entries in the Spitsbergen panorama collection on this website.
And: several new pages are now online displaying selections of photos illustrating a long and exciting recent voyage on SV Antigua. Click here to join us under sail in the Arctic!