Smittøya

Panorama of a small island in Hinlopen Strait

The little island of Smittøya is located in the middle of Hinlopen Strait.

There is a number of islands in Hinlopen Strait, between Spitsbergen and Nordaustland. Most of them are quite small. One of them is Smittøya, which is close to the northern point of Wahlbergøya.

The shape of Smittøya is as conspicuous as charming: from northwest to southeast, it is 1.8 kilometres long, but it is less than 100 metres wide in the middle! Both far ends of the island are low hills, both of them just 16 metres high, which are connected by a low-lying gravel bar. Such a connection is called Tombolo in geomorphology.

Postglacial isostatic land uplift played an important role in the formation of the island as it is today, the Tombolo in particular. Currents, wind and waves provided sand and gravel from surrounding shallow areas, which could accumulate to form the gravel bridge between the two hills. These were just rocky underwater shallows before post-glacial isostatic land uplift really happened. Once that process started, the shallows turned into two very small, separate islets which were then connected by the Tombolo to shape today’s Smittøya. For the trained eye, this development is very obvious as soon as you see the island. And the bird’s eye view certainly makes it easier to see and understand the structures.

Panorama Smittøya (1): The central part – the Tombolo

This first panorama was taken on a beautiful day in August 2023 above the narrow central part of the island, the Tombolo. Here, it is just a couple of steps from one shore to the other.

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Panorama Smittøya (2): The southern part – a look at the geology

This second panorama was taken above the southern part of the island which is about 500 metres wide, exactly above the elevation of 16 metres. A closer look at the surface reveals the geological structure: on one side, on the eastern and northern side (towards the Tombolo), the ground consists of light-coloured carbonate rock. Weathering produces rather small-grained sediment (sharp-edged gravel) that produces a very flat surface. On the other side, in the southwest, the ground consists of diabas (a kind of rock very similar to basalt). Here, both the coarser rocks and the darker colour make for a marked contrast. Another peculiarity is the lack of ice wedges in the area consisting of diabas.

Most of the island consists of the light-coloured carbonate rocks, and even in the context of this small island, diabas comes as a local particularity.

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Panorama Smittøya (3): the southern part, once again

The third panorama was taken close to the southern end of Smittøya. Here, the underlying bedrock consists entirely of light-coloured carbonate rocks; the above-mentioned diabas is missing here, but it can be seen further north (the location of the previous panorama).

On the southern end, some walruses are hauled out on the beach.

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Panorama Smittøya (4): the central part, once again

And once again the narrow central part, in completely different weather conditions a few weeks later, in September.

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Photo gallery Smittøya

And last but not least, a collection of images for some more detail on the ground. Admmittedly, some of the pictures are a little bit repetitive, but so what … I enjoyed these details every time I have been able to visit Smittøya over the years. The island is small and the barren landscape makes it easy to focus on certain characteristics, most prominently the beautifully curved coastlines. And then there are the details of the coastal polar desert such as driftwood, rised beach ridges, …