Longyearbyen, Norway (Svalbard Archipelago) - Day 13 - July 14, 2023
We are now at 78° Latitude - the farthest north we have ever been. The archipelago extends from 74° - 81° north latitude, and is about half way between mainland Norway and the North Pole.
60% of the Svalbard Archipelago is covered by glaciers, 30% is barren rock and 10% is covered by vegetation. The average summer temperature is 37°-45° F. Longyearbyen is in the warm section (no glaciers touching the town) and the bay here doesn't usually freeze over.
It is a tundra landscape (read more about the Tundra Biome) with permafrost and only 173 vascular plants. The landscape is dominated by mosses, liverworts and lichen (the reindeer's favorite food).
National parks and nature reserves cover 2/3 of the archipelago serving to protect the fragile environment.
The growing season is 70 days or less. Plants tend to be short with large flowers to attract the pollinators, but there are no bees or butterflies here and the pollinators are flies (including midges)!
Snow buntings are the one common songbird. They are here in the summer but winter in the Siberian Steppes (they have used radio trackers on the birds here). They are considered "arctic specialists" and can survive in temperatures down to -50° F.
Rock Ptarmigan are the only resident land bird. They change their plumage from white in the winter to a mottled brown in the summer to hide from predators. Their winter plumage is very thick and they restrict their movement in the long polar nights to conserve energy.
Dovekies are the most common bird. They breed here in large colonies on rocky cliffs and can produce up 60 metric tons of guano each year on the rocks below.
Mammals include Arctic foxes, reindeer, seals, walruses and polar bears which weigh anywhere from 400-1800 pounds.
We have been told not to leave the actual town of Longyearbyen without an armed guard due to danger from polar bears. One polar bear came to the house across the bay last January, but the town hasn't had one enter within the town limits for several years. Most everyone here owns a gun (for self defense), but killing a polar bear for anything other than self defense will send you to jail and we're told the jail term is equivalent to that for murdering a human.
Svalbard is unique in the world for not requiring any entrance visa and for letting anyone enter and stay here without question (as long as you're not connected to any military) -- also, they (and tourists) are exempt from the standard 25% VAT you pay everywhere else in Norway. Among the many local rules the cruise ship was compelled to spell out for us included not photographing local residents here without permission* and keeping distance from reindeer or other animals that may wander into town.
*It was suggested to us that this rule is likely because some people here are "on the lam" (a word that the dictionary indicates is of Scandinavian origin).
Our excursion today was an "ATV Safari". We met on the dock at 12:50 PM and took a van to the Svalbard Adventures office. There we donned our body suits, helmets and mittens. We were given the usual safety briefing and then went outside for our ATV instructions.
We got into our vehicles...there were 18 ATVs each with two passengers and then 3 guides accompanying us, one with a certified polar bear killing rifle on the back of his ATV and the others wearing flare guns meant to scare bears away.
Our ATV convoy drove out single file down the dirt road. There are only 40 km (25 miles) of road in Longyearbyen and there are no roads between settlements. It is illegal to drive on the tundra and there is a hefty fine (as much as $100 per meter) our guide told us...but I can't find any information to verify that.
We drove 5 miles along the road, stopping a couple of times to take pictures and for the guides to give us information and answer questions about the local history and culture, built around the 7 different coal mines which all yielded the "cleanest coal in the world" but none ever produced a profit. Interestingly, the town's electricity is still fully generated by burning coal from mine #7, and half of its mined coal is currently sold to Europe/Germany (to help offset their energy crisis due to the Ukraine War).
I found the tundra to be quite beautiful and enjoyed the pools of water created by the melting permafrost. We spotted Barnacle Geese and identified two of the flowers we saw growing. See pictures below.
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| Alpine Mouse-ear |
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| Common Cottongrass |
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| Barnacle Geese One of our stops was by the polar bear warning sign. The sign translates to "Applies to all of Svalbard."  |
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| Coal Mine We also passed a number of sled dog kennels as dog sled rides are a big summer tourist attraction (with sleds on wheels). During their 6 months of winter up here, transportation around Longyearbyen is by dog sled or snow mobile. |
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Sled Dog Kennels |
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