Krossfjord

Kross­fjord.

Pho­to gal­le­ries Kross­fjord

Scroll down to the end of this page or use the links below to see pho­tos, sor­ted in seve­ral gal­le­ries, from five places of inte­rest in Kross­fjord:

• Kross­fjord pho­to gal­lery 1: Fjor­ten­de Juli­buk­ta
• Kross­fjord pho­to gal­lery 2: Lil­lie­höök­breen
• Kross­fjord pho­to gal­lery 3: Möl­lerfjord, Lloyds Hotel
• Kross­fjord pho­to gal­lery 4: Sig­ne­ham­na
• Kross­fjord pho­to gal­lery 5: Ebelt­oft­ham­na, Coll­ins­od­den

Gene­ral: Kross­fjord

Fjord area with beau­tiful and varied land­scape and a long histo­ry. Kross­fjord has seve­ral bran­ches and side-bays and the lar­gest gla­cier in this part of Spits­ber­gen. Lil­lie­höök­fjord and Möl­lerfjord are the main bran­ches in the nor­t­hern part of Kross­fjord. The north and east coast of Kross­fjord are very moun­tai­neous and hea­vi­ly gla­cia­ted. The name is deri­ved from a woo­den cross that was erec­ted by wha­lers in the ent­rance of the fjord sys­tem cen­tu­ries ago. The cross has dis­ap­peared.

The gulf stream keeps the cli­ma­te rela­tively mild (for regio­nal stan­dards at least) and the fjord open for most of the year. Kross­fjord lies within the Nor­thwest Spits­ber­gen Natio­nal Park. The small islet near Kapp Guis­sez bet­ween Kongs- and Kross­fjord is a Bird sanc­tua­ry, ent­ry or approach clo­ser than 300 met­res are pro­hi­bi­ted during the bree­ding sea­son (15th May to 15th August). Ebelt­of­tod­den on the south side of Ebelt­oft­ham­na is clo­sed becau­se of cul­tu­ral heri­ta­ge remains. For tou­rists, landings are per­mit­ted in Kross­fjord at three loca­ti­ons: Sig­ne­ham­na, Lloyds Hotell/Regnardneset and Camp Zoe/Tinayrebukta.

Gla­cier­front of Lil­lie­höök­breen.

Kross­fjord pan­ora­ma

The­re is a cou­ple of sub-pages with pan­ora­ma images and addi­tio­nal infor­ma­ti­on on spitsbergen-svalbard.com so you can take a vir­tu­al tour to a num­ber of sites in the Kross­fjord area:

• Fjor­ten­de Juli­buk­ta: one of the most popu­lar excur­si­on sites in Kross­fjord
• Lloyds Hotel: ano­ther landing site, espe­ci­al­ly popu­lar for Ger­man crui­se ships of the com­pa­ny Hapag-Lloyd.
• Lil­lie­höök­breen: the lar­gest gla­cier in the area from dif­fe­rent per­spec­ties.
• Sig­ne­ham­na: remains of a Ger­man wea­ther sta­ti­on from the second world war.
• Coll­ins­od­den: Tro­pi­cal bea­ches, coas­tal plain and nor­t­hern light rese­arch.
• Die­sets­let­ta: the outer coast west of Kross­fjord.

Geo­lo­gy

Varied. Most­ly base­ment rocks, pre­di­mi­nant­ly Phyl­li­tes and mica schist, which were defor­med stron­gly both during the Cale­do­ni­an oro­ge­ny (Sil­uri­an) and the Alpi­dic oro­ge­ny (here lower Ter­tia­ry), when lar­ge sheets were over­th­rus­ted.

Thrust faults in Fjor­ten­de Juli­buk­ta.

Recom­men­ded book for fur­ther, well-digesta­ble (real­ly!) info about geo­lo­gy and land­scape of Sval­bard.

Land­scape

Moun­tain sce­n­ery on the east side of Kross­fjord.

The sce­n­ery around Kross­fjord is most­ly moun­tai­neous. Lar­ger low­land are­as are limi­t­ed to Kapp Guis­sez, Kapp Mitra and the outer coast. The inland north and east of Kross­fjord is stron­gly gla­cia­ted, and seve­ral gla­ciers reach the various bran­ches and side bays. Lil­lie­höök­breen is the lar­gest of the cal­ving gla­ciers in Kross­fjord, alt­hough it has retrea­ted stron­gly sin­ce the ear­ly 20th cen­tu­ry, with an acce­le­ra­ting trend in recent years. Beau­tiful gla­ciers can also be found in Tinay­re­buk­ta and Fjor­ten­de Juli­buk­ta, to name just some examp­les.

Fjor­ten­de Juli­buk­ta.

Flo­ra and Fau­na

The rela­tively mild cli­ma­te and the rea­di­ly wea­the­ring schist tog­e­ther pro­du­ce some rich vege­ta­ti­on. The tun­dra in Kross­fjord is typi­cal­ly a colourful car­pet espe­ci­al­ly rich in mos­ses and lichens, such as in Sig­ne­ham­na. The vege­ta­ti­on is espe­ci­al­ly rich in the vici­ni­ty of bird cliffs, such as the “han­ging gar­dens” near Redin­ger­pyn­ten in Fjor­ten­de Juli­buk­ty (be careful with the fra­gi­le vege­ta­ti­on on the slo­pes and keep a good distance from bree­ding birds, espe­ci­al­ly geese, which are easi­ly scared away).

Reinde­er on tun­dra with lichens and mos­ses in Sig­ne­ham­na.

»Han­ging gar­dens« in Fjor­ten­de Juli­buk­ta: the vege­ta­ti­on here includes some less com­mon spe­ci­es such as Eri­ge­ron humi­lis.

The­re is a num­ber of bird cliffs with Brünich’s guil­l­emots and kit­ti­wa­kes next to smal­ler num­bers of puf­fins and glau­cous gulls. Most bird cliffs are high abo­ve sea level, but the­re are some more acces­si­ble ones at Redin­ger­pyn­ten in Fjor­ten­de Juli­buk­ta and at Cadio­pyn­ten. Arc­tic foxes feast on ever­y­thing that might fall down from the­se cliffs and reinde­er gra­ze on the tun­dra. Polar bears are not neces­s­a­ri­ly an ever­y­day sight in Kross­fjord, but they can show up any­whe­re and at any time, so you never know …

Brünich’s guil­l­emots, Fjor­ten­de Juli­buk­ta.

Histo­ry

Being of rela­tively easy access, the area has a long histo­ry. The 17th cen­tu­ry wha­lers knew the­se fjords, but no remains of wha­ling sta­ti­ons are known from this area. Some of the ear­liest win­terings of Nor­we­gi­an hun­ters in Spits­ber­gen have taken place in Kross­fjord in the 19th cen­tu­ry. In 1906 and 1907 Kross­fjord was inves­ti­ga­ted during ocea­no­gra­phi­cal expe­di­ti­ons by Duke Albert I. of Mona­co. The duke was hims­elf a keen ocea­no­grapher and he took part in both expe­di­ti­ons. Albert II. of Mona­co visi­ted Kross­fjord a cen­tu­ry later, in 2006, to find the gla­ciers much smal­ler. Names like Fjor­ten­de Juli­buk­ta (14th July Bay, after the French natio­nal day) and other French names date back to the expe­di­ti­ons of Albert I.

The­re was a Ger­man obser­va­to­ry in Ebelt­oft­ham­na in the years from 1910 to 1914. It was main­ly a wea­ther sta­ti­on set up to inves­ti­ga­te if the area would be sui­ta­ble for polar rese­arch by air­ship, initia­ted by count Fer­di­nand von Zep­pe­lin during his 1910 expe­di­ti­on which clai­med lar­ge land are­as in the Kongsfjord-Kross­fjord area and fur­ther north up to Raud­fjord.

During the second world war, the Ger­man Kriegs­ma­ri­ne (navy) had wea­ther sta­ti­ons in Sig­ne­ham­na in 1941-42 (code name “Knos­pe”) and in 1942-43 (“Nuss­baum”).

Remains after the Ger­man wea­ther sta­ti­on from the second world war in Sig­ne­ham­na.

Kross­fjord pho­to gal­lery 1: Fjor­ten­de Juli­buk­ta

Fjor­ten­de Juli­buk­ta is one of the most popu­lar visi­tor sites in Kross­fjord.

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

Kross­fjord pho­to gal­lery 2: Lil­lie­höök­breen

Lil­lie­höök­breen is the lar­gest gla­cier in the area. It is stron­gly retrea­ting due to cli­ma­te chan­ge.

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

Kross­fjord pho­to gal­lery 3: Möl­lerfjord, Lloyds Hotel

Möl­lerfjord is Krossfjord’s nor­the­as­tern branch. Places of inte­rest include Lloyd’s Hotel.

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

Kross­fjord pho­to gal­lery 4: Sig­ne­ham­na

Sig­ne­ham­na is ano­ther fre­quent­ly used landing site. During the second world war, it was the sight of two Ger­man war wea­ther sta­ti­ons.

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

Kross­fjord pho­to gal­lery 5: Ebelt­oft­ham­na, Coll­ins­od­den

During the years from 1910 to 1914, Ebelt­oft­ham­na housed the Ger­man “geo­phy­si­cal obser­va­to­ry” initia­ted by count Zep­pe­lin. At Coll­ins­od­den, some kilo­me­t­res down the coast, the sci­en­tists used a trapper’s hut as a secon­da­ry obser­va­to­ry during one win­ter to obser­ve nor­t­hern lights simul­ta­neous­ly from two dif­fe­rent places for alti­tu­de deter­mi­na­ti­on. They con­nec­ted their sta­ti­ons in Ebelt­oft­ham­na and at Coll­ins­od­den with an impro­vi­sed tele­pho­ne line!

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

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