Links

Polar links: On this site, links are added regularly to offer an updated selection of websites of polar interest. I have checked every site before I added the respective link and found it interesting and useful, but responsibility for the information and content of external websites remains with the respective owner of these websites.

The link collections for Antarctica and South Georgia have moved to antarctic.eu.

Spitsbergen – Polar areas in general – Greenland – Jan Mayen – Miscellaneous – Tour operators

Spitsbergen

Svalbard tourism, the official touristic website, very informative and useful.
Spitsbergen topographic map online at the Norwegian Polar Institute’s website.
Feltlogg – Svalbard, the Sysselmannen’s field log with reports about safety-relevant field observations. (Norwegian/English).
Weather forecast of the Norwegian meteorological service.
The Seed Vault. Spitsbergen’s biggest media issue since the Italia catastrophe in 1928 and built to save the world, if …
Dinosaur skeleton remains found in recent years (2004-2007) in Isfjord, by the Natural History Museum of the University in Oslo.
Svalbard’s glaciers, focussing on rapidly advancing glacieres (surging behaviour). Interesting site by Monica Sund (UNIS).
Svalbard environment – official Norwegian website, Norwegian.
Michelle van Dijk is not “only” the owner of Longyearbyen Camping and an experienced guide colleague, but also author of a book about Sjef van Dongen, a Dutch polar person who took part in the search for Nobile in 1928. She has launched a website dedicated to Sjef van Dongen and her book (Dutch).
Arjen Drost, a colleague and friend, birdwatcher/naturalist and dedicated photographer.
Polarinstitut Norwegian Polar Institure. Offers, among others, topographic and geological maps and literature about Svalbard. Interesting project: MOSJ (Miljöovervakning av Svalbard and Jan Mayen: monitoring of climate-related environmental parameters in the arctic. Language: Norwegian).
The Flora of Svalbard. Everything about Spitsbergen’s plant life.
Nordaflora. Another informative site about northern flora.
Svalbardinsects.Everything about Spitsbergen’s invertebrate life.
Image archive of the Norwegian Polar Institute – a real treasure!
“Kulturminnesøk” is the official inventory of historical sites in Norway and Spitsbergen, revealing the amazing multitude of such sites, from almost invisible, unknown places to famous attractions. Very brief info about the individual sites, Norwegian.
Ice charts, Norwegian meteorological institute.
Ice charts, Arctic and Antarctic, by the Polar Research Group at the Department of Atmospheric Sciences of the University of Illinois.
Sysselmannen (Gouvernor of Svalbard).
The Andrée-Museum in Gränna, Sweden (Swedish).
Northern light station in Adventdalen near Longyearbyen.
Svalbardposten, the local newspaper from Longyearbyen (Norwegian).
Birdlife of Spitsbergen and Jan Mayen.
Svalbard, Hopen, Bear Island, Jan Mayen. Private website with photos, facts etc (Norwegian).
Hornsund – the Polish research station in southern Spitsbergen.
UNIS – the University courses on Svalbard.
Kingsbay – Ny Ålesund on the web.
Svalbardmuseum, the museum in Longyearbyen.
Weatherforecast for Longyearbyen.
The Mars-project in the Bockfjord.
SSF (Svalbard Science Forum).Coordinates research in Svalbard.
Icepeople: “The world’s northernmost alternative newspaper”
WWF polar bear tracker, follow the movements of several polar bears in the arctic.

Polar areas in general

The German Society of Polar Research addresses both scientists and the public with their website, publications and meetings.
The “Polar Tourism Guide Association” (PTGA) is an organisation of interest for all my polar guide colleagues.
ICESat: a lot of interesting information about ice, climate change, …
The Polar Citizen Science Collective coordinates efforts to collect scientific data on polar expedition cruise ships.
WWF – environmental work in the Arctic. Concerns everybody and very interesting.
AECO Association of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators
Cryopolitics is a website/blog observing arctic geopolitics.
AndersonImages – photography from the Arctic (including Franz Josef Land) and Antarctic.
Ophrys Photography – images not only from the Arctic.
Maps illustrating various subjects (environmental, political) and areas within the Arctic.
The Swedish Museum of Natural History has a very useful website on botany (Swedish).

Polar Voyages: the website of Piero Bosco, fellow expedition guide from Italy, with photo galleries and voyages all over polar areas.

Simon Bober:
polar photography really worth seeing

Peter and Anne Marie van Soest

Greenland

GEUS Geological survey of Denmark. Offers, among others, geological maps and literature about Greenland.
Also provided by GEUS: database of placenames in northern East Greenland, with historical background.
The Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI) with the weather forecast for Greenland. Danish.
The Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI) with the ice charts for Greenland.
Nanu Travel offers trips in East Greenland (Scoresbysund), among others, dog sledge trips.
Scoresbysund Settlement in East Greenland (official website).
Atuagkat Specialised bookstore in Nuuk (West Greenland). All kinds of literature about Greenland.
TSW-Publishing, based in Scotland’s highlands, translates and publishes fine books, which so far have been available only in Danish, such as “Fifty Years With Sirius”, about the legendary sledge patrol in North-East Greenland.
East Greenland – all you want to know.
Sermitsiaq Greenlandic newspaper with Danish section and English newsletter.
“Oqaluttuat / Tales”: Stories from Greenland’s history, from the earliest Inuit settlers to early modern times in shape of high level comic books. These books were made in a collaboration between the Greenlandic artist Nuka K. Godtfredsen and Danish archaeologists.

Jan Mayen

Jan Mayen has a dedicated section on this homepage.
Jan Mayen official homepage.
Ishavsforeningen Jan Mayen. Dedicated to the preservation of the cultural heritage on Jan Mayen.
Jan Mayen topographic map online at the Norwegian Polar Institute’s website.

Miscellaneous

Glacierbooks in Scotland offer a fine selection of secondhand and antiquarian Polar and Mountaineering Books.
Laura Dyer photography with a selection of great arctic wildlife shots.

Jonathan P. Tyler
Wildlife artist & photographer

Expedition cruise operators

Expedition Origo in Sweden operates the small, fine expedition ship Origo.

spitzbergen-adventures.com, is Doreen Lampe’s company. Doreen offers mainly snow mobile trips and she is well capable of getting you out of the deepest snow hole if needed. Also special arrangements for film teams, photographers and more.

Oceanwide Expeditions
Expedition style cruises to the Arctic and Antarctica

The specialist for diving in the Arctic and Antarctica.

UK based specialist in small group wilderness, wildlife, diving and photography trips from the Equator to the Poles.

Grands espaces polar voyages. A good contact if you are looking for a French-speaking voyage to the Arctic or Antarctic.

Jon Amtrup is a high latitude sailor and writer. He has written Harbour Guide Bergen-Kirkenes, Sail to Svalbard and King Harald Vs autobiography. In the wintertime he does Ski & Sail expeditions in the Sunnmøre alps.