Section 4 of the Svalbard Act –
10 Longyearbyen and the other
10.2 Other local communities
10.2.1 Ny-Ålesund
Situated in Kongsfjord on Spitsbergen, about 100 kilometres north of Longyearbyen, Ny-Ålesund is the northernmost settlement in Svalbard. At 1 Sep
tember 2008 the community had 41 year-round res
idents, but its population multiplies many times over during the summer season. The origin of the settlement was coal mining, but these activities were discontinued following a major accident in 1962. Since 1965 the community has been a research station run by the state-owned limited company Kings Bay AS, which is both owner and has responsibility for operating the infrastructure at the site. The purpose of the company is to pro
vide services to and promote scientific activities and to help develop Ny-Ålesund as an international Arctic science research station. With the exception of services such as the police, rescue and emer
gency response system, the services provided are mainly governed by what Kings Bay AS offers and facilitates through its activities. Ny-Ålesund does not have medical services and the hospital in Long
yearbyen is therefore used when needed. Given the size and location of the place, its infrastructure, which includes a quay and air strip, is relatively good.
As mentioned Ny-Ålesund is connected to the fibre optic cable between Longyearbyen and the mainland. “Radio silence” is otherwise in place at the site, which is an advantage for scientists and their use of passive receiving equipment. In addi
tion, the community has the world’s northernmost
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Svalbard post office and its own store. The vicinity other
wise features a large number of cultural monu
ments from mining operations and from the time the place functioned as a base for many North Pole expeditions.
Considerable investment has been made in Ny-Ålesund in the last 10 years. As a result the place is now a very good and functional base for
interna-Box 10.2 Norge over the North Pole 1926
Figure 10.8 The airship Norge in Ny-Ålesund.
Photo: Norwegian Polar Institute
While Svalbard has been the starting point for many North Pole expeditions, the first to arrive there was the airship Norge in 1926.
The airship was designed and built by the Ita
lian colonel Umberto Nobile, who was also its pilot. Funding was mainly provided by Lin
coln Ellsworth, an American, while Roald Amundsen planned and headed the expedi
tion together with Ellsworth. An airship hall measuring 110 metres long, 34 metres wide and 30 metres high was built in Ny-Ålesund – becoming Svalbard’s biggest building – along with a 35-metre high mooring mast. Norge took off on 11 May 1926 with 16 men on board. The trip took 16 hours and on 12 May at 0130 hours the Norwegian, American and Italian flags were dropped down on the North Pole. Norge landed in Teller, Alaska on 13 May and was dismantled. This was the first undisputed observation of the North Pole.
Roald Amundsen expected to find land, but could see only ice. Spitsbergen Airship Museum opened in Longyearbyen in 2008.
The purpose of the museum is to communi
cate the history and the role the airship has played in the Arctic.
tional natural science research and climate moni
toring. The overriding objective of this investment is to develop Ny-Ålesund into one of the world’s foremost places for Arctic climate and environmen
tal research. Opened in 2005, the Marine Labora
tory is an example of these efforts. NOK 25 million has been allocated through the 2009 national budget to build a new and more environmentally friendly power station in Ny-Ålesund.
The international aspect of Ny-Ålesund pro
vides the place completely special qualifications in a research context. Today, Norwegian, German, British, Italian, French, Japanese, South Korean, Chinese and Indian research institutes have a per
manent base here. In addition to these, other research institutions also use the place without being there year-round. In all, around 20 countries conduct research projects in Ny-Ålesund each year on a variety of subjects including the climate, atmosphere, pollution, plants, animals and ocean.
The increasing international research interest in Ny-Ålesund serves to set strict standards for how the place is to be run. To protect the fjord area, including important research installations in the ocean and on the seafloor, the Svalbard Act was amended in 2005. A new provision now authorises restrictions on activities that may harm research, and separate regulations closing off large parts of Kongsfjord to fishing activities have been issued.
The measures are a follow-up to Report No. 9 (1999–2000) to the Storting, Svalbard, and its dis
cussion. In the Government’s view, it is important to continue protecting Ny-Ålesund and the sur
rounding area as a reference area for research. In this connection the Government wishes to take a closer look at the cruise traffic in Kongsfjord and the challenges it creates. For further details see Chapter 8 on Knowledge, research and higher edu
cation.
10.2.2 Sveagruva
Located at the end of Van Mijenfjord, Sveagruva (hereinafter referred to as Svea) is the site of Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani (Store Norske)‘s main coal mining operations. Operated since 2001, about 20 million tonnes of coal have been taken out of the Svea Nord mine. According to calculations, this mine will be exhausted in 2013–2015, and the company is working on plans for further opera
tions at four other sites in the Svea area: Luncke
fjellet, Svea Øst, the “Fringe Zone” and Ispallen.
The idea is to be able to use already established infrastructure connected with the Svea Nord mine for mining these deposits, cf. the coverage in Chap
Figure 10.9 Ny-Ålesund
Photo: Heinrich Eggenfellner
ter 9 on Industrial, mining and commercial activi
ties.
Svea is a pure mining and production site and is operated by employees commuting from Long
yearbyen, mostly by air. A requirement ever since the start-up of Svea Nord is that its operations would be based on commuting from Longyear
byen. Transport of all goods takes place either by boat or tracked vehicles from Longyearbyen dur
ing the winter.
10.2.3 Bjørnøya and Hopen
Bjørnøya and Hopen lie south and east, respec
tively, of the island of Spitsbergen. Even though Bjørnøya is located just about as far from the Nor
wegian mainland as it is to Spitsbergen, the island belongs to Svalbard.
Norway has been present in both of these places for many years, primarily through the manned stations of the Norwegian Meteorological Institute. Bjørnøya has about 10 people present at any given time, while all together four persons are
stationed on Hopen. In addition, the sites can accommodate a few scientists if needed. All of the people permanently stationed on these two islands are employees of the Meteorological Institute and are engaged for six months at a time. However, the personnel also have functions in addition to purely meteorological duties, particularly concerning research activities, ambulance and rescue serv
ices.
The Government’s High North strategy main
tains that the Government wishes to maintain Nor
wegian activities on Bjørnøya and Hopen. To assess this in more detail, the Government appointed a working group in November 2006 to look at the Norwegian presence in these places. In step with greater activity in surrounding waters, and in the Arctic in general, there is no reason to believe that the importance of permanent presence will diminish. In the absence of any real alterna
tives, the Government therefore finds that the cur
rent presence of manned weather stations should continue.
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Svalbard
10.2.4 Barentsburg and Pyramiden
Barentsburg lies in Grønnfjord in Spitsbergen and is following the closure of Pyramiden in 1998 the only local community in Svalbard with a permanent Russian company presence. The place was previ
ously the site of extensive coal mining. In contrast to Longyearbyen, Barentsburg is still organised as a “company town” where the company Trust Ark
tikugol both owns and operates all activities at the site. In addition to mining, there is also some scien
tific activity, plus commercial activities in the form of a textile factory, a souvenir shop and a place to stay. The company has a quay in Barentsburg and helicopter operations in connection with the min
ing activities, with a landing field on Heerodden right outside the town.
Barentsburg has been hit by a series of acci
dents and other mishaps in recent years. At the beginning of 2006 a coal waste tip outside town started on fire after overheating for a long period.
With the help of crews and equipment from Store Norske the fire was finally contained before burn
ing itself out. In March 2008, a helicopter operated by Trust Arktikugol crashed during landing on Heerodden. In April the same year fire broke out in the coal mine below the town. Coal production had been reduced before that to a minimum and after the fire broke out, production ground to a halt. All together five people died in these incidents.
The nature of the activities in Barentsburg has changed and they have been cut back considerably
in the last 10 years. From being a place to live for well over 900 residents in 1999, the town had about 440 residents on 1 September 2008. Some improve
ments have been made to the place of late but plans for major and important infrastructure are still unclear. A Russian government commission was appointed in 2007 to consider the future Russian presence in Svalbard. The Commission visited Bar
entsburg in the autumn of 2007. According to the plan, the Commission’s report was supposed to be presented in the first half of 2008 but has yet to be submitted. It is presumed that the report will aim to describe challenges and opportunities for Bar
entsburg in the future and include proposals for any measures. How the environmental aspect of the activities in Barentsburg will be followed up is covered in Chapter 7 Environmental protection.
10.2.5 Hornsund
The Polish research station at Isbjørnhavna in Hornsund has been in operation since 1957. The station has been permanently manned since 1978, with around 10 scientists wintering there each year. Hornsund is also regularly visited by scien
tists and others who use the place as a base for shorter and more seasonable research assign
ments. The station is operated by the Institute for Geophysics at the Polish Academy of Sciences.
Research at the site is related to many disciplines, including meteorology, seismology, glaciology and various forms of environmental monitoring.