Polar bear in Longyearbyen, less dangerous than the one on Tuesday.
More and more frequently the Arctic is in the centre of international public attention. Starting in February 2008, this site is meant to bring interesting news and important developments to the mind of the interested netuser. This site will be updated every few weeks, so: come again.
Please contact me if you have relevant information or questions (Email).
Compilation and copyright of all illustrations (unless stated differently): Rolf Stange
May 2010: Polar bears feed on goose colonies. Large cruise ships in Spitsbergen: soon history? Zinc mine in North Greenland. Fewer dangerous confrontations with polar bears.
April 2010: Gold rush. Single-handed flight across the North Pole. Volcanic ash cloud from Iceland also in Spitsbergen.
March 2010: Evolution of Polar bears. Report on greenhouse gas emissions. Return of the sun. Fewer ships in 2010. BarentsPortal. Seed vault is growing.
February 2010: Pesticides. Gold occurrences. Alcohol and snow mobiles. Coal mining economy. Eastern Svalbard potentially closed. Environmental situation Barents Sea.
The Authorities of Norway want to start with a passport control at Longyearbyen airport before the end of this year. Norway is a member of the Schengen Agreement since 2001 but Spitsbergen is not included due to the Svalbard Treaty (1920). Until today travelers with transit visa had to struggle with the repeated entry to the Schengen area, since they officially entered the area one time, but they never left Schengen officially, when they traveled via Tromso. Another reason for establishing this procedure is the anxiety for terrorists and criminals entering the country via Spitsbergen. Locals and Norwegians disagree with this proposal, since they feel controlled within their own country. However, so far the final version of the new directive is not on the table yet.
Source: Svalbardposten and Barents Observer; Text: Elke Lindner
...tend to be dead and stuffed. Not so the one that came in the evening of 08 June to Nybyen, the upper part of Longyearbyen. It was scared away by the police. It was real and dangerous enough for some warning shots and the helicopter was used to follow the animal over the nearby Longyear glacier and into the neighbouring valley Fardalen.
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Polar bear in Longyearbyen, less dangerous than the one on Tuesday. |
Source: local gossip; Sysselmannen
It is no news that polar bears are opportunistic feeders, taking almost anything they can get down into the stomach. Recent observations point towards a possibly increased tendency to visit Barnacle goose colonies on small islands on the west coast of Spitsbergen in the early summer, when the nests are easy prey. According to Dutch biologist Jouke Prop, in the 1970s bears visited this area only by chance when they came with drifting ice in late May or early June, without paying too much attention to breeding geese. In the 1980s, no bears were observed at all, while bear have visited the colonies frequently in recent years. Interestingly, they tend to come in late June, when there is no ice in the area, but something in the nests to feed on. -- Coincidence or newly developed behaviour? Unknown so far.
In any case, after a total of 4 (!) bear visits within a few days, breeding success of the Barnacle geese was reduced to something in the area of 1 %.
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Polar bear with Pink-footed goose. Edgeøya, mid July 2009. |
Crude oil has been banned from the nature reserves in the eastern part of the Spitsbergen archipelago already in 2007, and the same legislation has been introduced to the national parks, covering large parts of the west coast, in 2009 (excluding, for some years, a route into Magdalenefjord, a popular destination for large cruise ships). Crude oil is a common fuel type for larger ships.
It is now considered to ban crude oil from all Spitsbergen waters, only excluding acknowledged shipping routes to Longyearbyen and the mining settlement of Sveagruva. This is to prevent catastrophic oil spills in case of shipping desasters.
This would factually be the end of oversea cruise ship visits to Spitsbergen or at least a drastic reduction. From an environmental perspective, a ban on crude oil in arctic waters would be very welcome.
41.387 visitors came to Spitsbergen on ships, by far most of them on large cruise ships. Some more are expected in 2010.
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The oversea cruise ship Costa Magica, here in Longyearbyen on 03 August 2009, was until then the largest ship to visit Spitsbergen. |
Source: Svalbardposten (19/10)
The Citronen Fjord is not in Spitsbergen, but in Peary Land in northernmost Greenland. The zinc occurrence in Citronen Fjord are known since long ago, but are currently under investigation and mining is supposed to begin in 4 years, aiming at 300.000 tons of annual export.
The Citronen Fjord is part of the Northeast Greenland National Park. The airport near Longyearbyen is currently playing a vital role in the logistics of the investigations.
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Citronen Fjord (red circle) is situated within the National Park in northernmost Greenland. |
| Source: Svalbardposten (18/10) | |
According to studies by master student Margrete Nilsdatter Skaktavl Keyser, dangerous confrontations between polar bears and humans have recently become less frequent, inspite of increased traffic also in remote parts of Spitsbergen. The main reason for the positive development is believed to be the decreasing number of inexperienced tourists that visit wilderness areas individually. Instead, there is an increasing trend to join organized tours with experienced guides, who work to avoid confrontations and are more likely to be able to deal with such events without shooting the animals, for example by scaring the bears away with warning shots from the signal pistol.
Scientists are now actually more likely to get involved in dangerous confrontations, including events where bears were shot in self defence. The reason is that scientists spend more time on land, also in remote areas which are frequented by bears, also in camps during the night. Additionally, not every individual researcher has the level of experience and skills that is desireable to deal with polar bears as safely as possible.
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Meeting of humans and polar bear, with no danger or disturbance involved. |
| Source: UNIS | |
The Norwegian mining company Store Norske is investigating gold occurrences in Spitsbergen, as reported earlier on these pages. The area of investigation is the south side of St. Jonsfjord on the west coast, north of Isfjord. Four cores have been drilled on Holmesletfjella, 500 metres high; 4000 metres of cores are supposed to be drilled until June. The area of interest stretches across 7 kilometres, and several years of further research work are needed until any mining can possibly be started.
Source: Svalbardposten
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Map of Spitsbergen; St. Jonsfjorden is on the west coast (GNU Lesser General Public License, created with Marble) |
On 05 April, the French adventurer Jean-Louis Etienne ventured on a balloon flight from Longyearbyen to the North Pole. He almost succeeded in reaching 90°N, but was then blown off at 88°N towards Russia.
Etienne carried instruments to measure carbondioxide levels and magnetism. His first solo expedition to the North Pole was on ski in 1986. This time, he wanted to focus on observations of changes in the high Arctic. On 10 April, after 121 hours and 3130 kilometres, he landed in Jakutia (Russia).
Sourcen: Svalbardposten; Jean-Louis Etienne (Homepage)
Compiled by: Elke Lindner
The volcano at the Eyjafjalla-glacier in Iceland gives Spitsbergen some of the remoteness back that it used to have in the past. The recent concentration of ash particles in the atmosphere above Norway forced planes from and to Longyearbyen to remain on the ground, meaning that Spitsbergen was cut off not only for human traffic, but also for food and other deliveries, mail and medical emergency flights. The coast guard was on standby in case of urgent medical evacuations. After two days, the first tourists were flown out of Longyearbyen to Tromsø.
Sources: Svalbardposten and Sysselmannen
Compiled by: Elke Lindner
The seed vault near Longyearbyen, that is supposed to secure global gene resources for future generations, has now more than half a million samples of seeds from food crops. This makes Spitsbergen's seed vault the largest collection of its kind in the world.
The latest samples include highly resistant beans from South America, strawberries from the Kuriles in the northern Pacific and American soja beans.
The seed vault was opened in February 2008. The arctic permafrost protects seeds of corn, beans, and other culture crops from plant disease, climate change, war impact and natural desaster. So far, only one out of three chambers is in use; the other ones are supposed to be used in 25 and 100 years, respectively.
Source: Svalbardposten
Compiled by: Elke Lindner |
The entrance to the seed vault near Longyearbyen. © Photo: Hagen Held
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| Information about the ecosystem Barents Sea: BarentsPortal The joint Norwegian-Russian Commission on Environmental Protection has published a website and a report with comprehensive, interesting information about the Barents Sea ecosystem, relevant for administration and the environment. Click here to get to the BarentsPortal |
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It looks grey, but is actually complex and needs environmental consideration: The Barents Sea (At Bear Island) |
| Source: Barentsportal | |
| Fewer ships during summer season 2010 Fewer small cruise ships (so-called expedition ships) will visit Spitsbergen during the upcoming summer season of 2010. The reasons include the economical crisis, but also new safety requirements, especially new fire-fighting (sprinkler) systems that are very costly to install. Several ships that have been cruising Spitsbergen's coast extensively during recent years will not return again: Origo (25 passenger capacity), Grigoriy Mikheev (44), Alexey Maryshev (44), Professor Molchanov (54) and Professor Multanovskiy (54). The recent development is to replace these smaller ships with a lesser number of slightly larger, modern ones. |
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Will not come back: MV Professor Multanovskiy (here in Greenland). |
| Source: AECO | |
| Sunfest in Longyearbyen The first sunrays after the polar night are alway an event in the Arctic. Now the time has come for Longyearbyen, and the event will be marked with a number of celebrations and cultural events, startign 07 March, the so-called "solfestuke" (sun festival week). |
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Alway an event in the Arctic: The last sunrays before and the first ones at the end of the polar night |
| Source: Longyearbyen Lokalstyre | |
| Tourists melt Spitsbergen... ... something like this was one of many headlines in Norwegian newspapers after a report had been published about greenhous gas emissions in Svalbard. The report was compiled by KliF ("Klima og forurensningsdirektorat", Norwegian authority on emissions) on request from the Norwegian Ministry of the enrivonment. According to the report, large oversea cruise ships are responsible for the bulk of the 50 % increase of climate-relevant gas emissions from 2000 to 2007, followed by coal mining (including coal shipping) and energy production. The report has received strong criticism from several sides for using wrong data. For example, the total use of fuels by oversea cruise ships in the region has been calculated to be 20,208 tons for 2007, but could easily shown to be far less (7,764 tons, with careful assumptions, probably less) by using data from the Sysselmannen. Similarly, too large numbers have been used for coal transport ships and the coal power plant in Barentsburg (assumed 45,000 tons coal per year, but the consumption capacity is apparently only 30,000 tons). The report is principally welcomed, but it is criticised that official reports that advise politics use wrong numbers, where correct ones could easily be obtained. KliF said that the aim was to give a general picture and time to achieve correct details could not be afforded. Critics fear that careless use of vital data damage faith of companies and population in (environmental) science and, consequently, administration that is based on such data. It is demanded that the report should be withdrawn and a revised version should be published. According to the report, greenhouse gas emissions within Spitsbergen (Svalbard in Norwegian) amount to 1 % of the emissions in Norway. It is assumed that, until 2025, coal mining declines, but tourism may double. For 2007, local energy production has contributed with 44 % to Spitsbergen's total volume of relevant emissions (58 % in 2000), oversea cruise ships with 16 % (2000: 12 %) and coal transport ships from Svea with 14 % (2000: 12 %) |
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How much is it? That's what we want to know. Coal power plant in Barentsburg. |
| Source: Svalbardposten, including letters to the editor from Trygve Steen (AECO, in Svalbardposten 08/2010), Terje
Aunevik (Port agency Pole Position Spitsbergen, edition 09/2010) KliF report |
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| Evolution of Polar bears Analysis of a polar bear jawbone that was found on Prins Karls Forland has not only yielded an age of 110.000 to 130.000 years, but also provided new information on the evolution of the species. The results confirm that the species "polar bear" is very young indeed and had split from brown bears as recently as around 150.000 years ago, as DNA analysis from the fossil have shown. Adaptation to the high arctic environment must then have been rather fast and efficient. |
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Polar bear skull in arctic desert-kind of tundra. Fossils are rarely found as polar bears spend most of their life on drift ice and usually die there. |
| Source: Norwegisches Polarinstitut | |
| Environmental situation in the Barents Sea The new environmental status report of a Norwegian working group that includes a number of research institutions has been published in February. It summarizes scientic data concerning various environmental developments. The report (Norwegian) is detailed and has yielded expected development as well as surprises. Some important results:
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Plastic rubbish, mostly "lost" from fishing vessels. Washed up onto and collected from a small part of a remote beach in Hinlopen Strait, northeastern Spitsbergen. |
| Source: Forvaltningsplan Barentshavet 2010 | |
| Eastern Svalbard Nature Reserves: potential closure of largest parts still on the agenda A possible closure of most parts of eastern Svalbard has been discussed on these pages on several occasions (see for example June 2009). The Norwegian Directorate for Nature administration (Direktoratet for naturforvaltning, (DN)) had made a proposal to close most of eastern Svalbard for tourists. The Sysselmannen disagreed with the proposal, which would normally lead to major changes or discarding. The proposal has, however, been forwarded to further bodies of the law-giving process without making any significant changes, a very unusual step. The main reason for the proposal was that the areas should be kept as "untouched scientific reference areas". This rather vague reasoning could not be explained any further, other than claiming a "precautionary principle". After this has met strong criticism, nature protection was added. The proposal is strongly criticised, including:
A result of the process could be a loss of public confidence into science and administration, if "science" is (ab)used as an argument by political decision makers without solid scientific argumentative basis, similar to Japanese "scientific" whaling. |
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Eastern Svalbard: Protected areas or exclusive playground for scientists? |
| Source: Svalbardposten and other (including verbal discussions) | |
| Coal mining economy The mining company Store Norske could, in 2009, for the second time conclude with a profit of about 400 million Norwegian crowns (ca 48.7 million Euro), mainly due to good coal prices before the break-out of the crisis and advantageous financial business ("kull-hedging"). The lookout seems less bright: Store Norske has to deal with falling world market prices, cancellation of orders, and deteriorating coal quality in the largest mine, "Svea Nord", near Sveagruva, where 2 million tons were mined last year. The mine is expected to be closed in 2014; Store Norske has plans to open another mine in the area. The future of mine 7, the only mine near Longyearbyen still in operation, is uncertain as it has been producing deficits for a number of years. |
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Coal mining, quo vadis? He does not know either. (miner in Longyearbyen) |
| Source: Svalbardposten | |
| Snow mobiles and alcohol The Sysselmannen (police) controlled a group of snow mobile tourists who where just about to start their tour. The result was impressive: 10 out of 35 had alcohol in their blood and were not allowed to participate. The Sysselmannen calls attention to valid general traffic and special snow scooter regulations, which includes a very strict "don't drink and drive" policy and potentially severe fines. |
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Watch out for snow mobiles with potentially dark background! |
| Source: Sysselmannen | |
| High pesticide levels in Spitsbergen Recent analysis of snow and ice of glaciers in the Spitsbergen archipelago has shown significant levels of pesticides, which are not used locally and thus come from long-distance sources in Europe and overseas. The relevant pesticides are long-lived and take very long time to break down, especially in cold climate conditions. Today, they are mostly banned. The amounts thought to be present in Spitsbergen are up to about one ton of some pesticides, but vary locally. Further research is needed to investigate potential threats to the environment. |
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Is the ice as clean as it seems, or...? |
| Source: Svalbard Science Forum | |
| Gold rush in St. Jonsfjord In 2009, the Norwegian mining company Store Norske carried out first investigations to find potential gold occurrences in St. Jonsfjord, north of Isfjord. Results show that the potential is significant. Store Norske intends to do drillings to further determine the potential of valuable metals. The authorities (Sysselmannen) have now given permission for the drillings under strict environmental conditions. St. Jonsfjord is outside the protected areas, which means that the future may see a new mine in Spitsbergen. |
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St. Jonsfjord |
| Source: Svalbardposten | |
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Norwegian ice chart, 30 December (© Norwegian Meteorological Institute) |
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