Ice in Advent­fjord, spring in Advent­da­len

Wed
22 May
2024

Some impres­si­ons from Longyearbyen’s near sur­roun­dings, whe­re the snow began to dis­ap­pear quite rapidly in ear­ly May. But the­re was quite a lot of drift ice in Advent­fjord (and not only the­re) in ear­ly May, much to the delight of many in Lon­gye­ar­by­en who enjoy­ed the views.

Click on thumb­nail to open an enlar­ged ver­si­on of the spe­ci­fic pho­to.

The two gulls are les­ser black-backed gulls (that’s what I think, at least; gulls are a bit of a sci­ence), quite rare birds in Spits­ber­gen.

Mean­while, the geese have arri­ved and gather on snow-free tun­dra are­as in and near Lon­gye­ar­by­en. The­re are more and more of them every day, a beau­tiful time for bir­ders and natu­re lovers.

“Ice in Advent Bay”: 1896 and 2024

The ice in Advent­fjord remin­ded me much of an old image from 1896. This (below) is how the Eng­lish­man Mar­tin Con­way saw Advent­fjord – Lon­gye­ar­by­en did not exist back then, but the­re was a hotel at Hotell­ne­set, not far from whe­re the air­port is today.

Con­way and his group were the first ones to cross Spits­ber­gen over land from Advent Bay, as it was known back then, to the east coast. Later he wro­te the clas­sic “The first crossing of Spits­ber­gen”, which is high­ly recom­men­ded by the pre­sent aut­hor.

“Ice in Advent Bay”. This is how Mar­tin Con­way saw Advent­fjord in 1896.
It loo­ked very simi­lar in ear­ly May 2024.

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