Ny-Ålesund
| Ny-Ålesund | |||||
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| Basic data | |||||
| Country | Norway | ||||
| Outdoor area | Svalbard | ||||
| Coordinates : | 78 ° 55 ' N , 11 ° 56' E | ||||
| Residents : | 34 (December 31, 2013) | ||||
| Area : | 300 km² | ||||
| Population density : | <1 inhabitant per km² | ||||
Ny-Ålesund (formerly Kings Bay in different languages , after the local coal mining company Kings Bay ) is a small town on the island of Spitzbergen in the Norwegian administrative district of Svalbard . It is one of the northernmost settlements on earth . Around 30 people live here in winter and around 120 people in summer. Since there are no developed routes between the places on Svalbard, the supply is either by air or by ship during the ice-free period. The village can also be reached from Longyearbyen by snowmobile . Ny-Ålesund has the northernmost post office in the world.
The first building was erected in 1901 by a private hard coal company , the place was founded in 1916. Private coal production was initially discontinued in 1929 due to a lack of profitability, but resumed under state management from 1945. After a mine accident in 1963, coal mining was finally stopped. At that time around 200 people lived in the place that was to be abandoned after the end of coal mining. However, plans quickly arose that included using the existing buildings for a polar research station. The first research station was opened by the Norwegian government in 1968. Since then Ny-Ålesund has developed into an international research center.
geography
Ny-Ålesund is the northernmost current settlement on Svalbard. It is located on the south coast of the Kongsfjord on Brøggerhalvøya in Oscar II Land in the northwestern part of the island of Spitsbergen . The peninsula is a mountain landscape with 600 to 800 meter high peaks, Brøggertinden is the highest of them. Other peaks in the area are Scheteligfjellet, Botnfjellet, Nobilefjellet, Nielsenfjellet and Dolotoppen.
The area owned by Kings Bay AS is 300 km².
Ny-Ålesund is located 1231 km from the North Pole , 107 km from Longyearbyen and 2420 km from Oslo .
geology
Greenland and Svalbard were still together in the Tertiary , which is why the same rock layers can be found here as in Greenland.
The reddish sandstone from the desert is noticeable outside Ny-Ålesund at Kongsfjordneset and at Brøggerbreane (Brøgger Glacier) in the south. This sand is from the time when Svalbard was on the same latitude as the desert regions of North Africa. The reddish sandstone is the reason why the glacial rivers in the region have a strong reddish color.
biology
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There are hundreds of thousands of seabirds in the Kongsfjorden (Königsfjord) and in the neighboring Krossfjord . The common species include the fulmar , the kittiwake , the puffin , the black guillemot and the thick-billed mum . There are also ice gulls and arctic foxes. There is a large population of nesting eider ducks on the islands in the Kongsfjorden , between 1000 and 4500 pairs were sighted between 1982 and 2002. On the islands, the number of barnacle geese is estimated at 250 to 300 pairs.
In spring 2002 480 seals were counted on Kongsfjorden, as well as whales.
The Norwegian Polar Institute spotted 15 Svalbard reindeer at Brøggerhalvøya in 1978 . The number increased rapidly because of the good pastures and low mortality in winter and in 1993 there were already 375 animals. In the winter of 1994 there was a lot of snow and rainfall in the area, which hit the animals hard and caused the population to drop to only 75.
climate
The climate in Ny-Ålesund is arctic, but relatively mild for a location at 78 ° north latitude . The town of Barrow in Alaska , which is even seven degrees south, has an average winter temperature of 10 ° C lower than Ny-Ålesund. Responsible for this is the West Spitsbergen Current , which ensures moderate temperatures even in winter. The coldest month is February with an average temperature of −14.6 ° C, the warmest is July with an average of 4.9 ° C. Precipitation is fairly evenly distributed over the year, with a minimum in May and June. An average of 385 mm of precipitation falls annually.
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Average monthly temperatures and rainfall for Ny-Ålesund
Source: Norwegian Meteorological Institute eKlima , values for normal period 1961–1990
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society
research
Ny-Ålesund is the world's northernmost permanent civil research station and is currently being expanded to enable modern international Arctic research and environmental monitoring. Parliament has decided that Ny-Ålesund should become the center of Norwegian research on Svalbard. The research is coordinated by the Ny-Ålesund Science Managers Committee (NySMAC).
The first research organizations based in Ny-Ålesund were the Northern Observatory in Tromsø in 1966 and the European Space Research Organization ( ESRO ) in 1967. The Norwegian Polar Institute began its research in 1968.
On the Zeppelinfjellet (Zeppelin Mountain) outside Ny-Ålesund is the “Zeppelin” research station, 474 meters above sea level. The Zeppelin station is central to monitoring the atmosphere. The data collected is of great importance for monitoring climate change, changes in ozone in the stratosphere , UV rays , air pollutants and long-term air pollution from hard-to-break particles. The station is owned by the Norwegian Polar Institute, but the Norwegian Institute for Air Research is responsible for the station's scientific activities.
Substantial funds from the EU Framework Program for Research go to Ny-Ålesund. From 1997 to 2002 five stations in Ny-Ålesund received EU status as “large scale facility” (LSF). The EU is funding the infrastructure and research programs in the almost untouched area.
Today the site consists of permanently manned polar research stations from Norway , Germany ( Koldewey station of the Alfred Wegener Institute , since 1991), France (since 1998, logistically united with the German station since 2003) and China (opened in 2004) and only in Limited time manned stations from Italy , Great Britain , Japan, and smaller buildings for researchers from Spain and the Netherlands . In addition, there is the shared infrastructure maintained by Kings Bay with a marine research laboratory (opened in 2005), canteen, port facilities and workshops. Researchers from other nations ( Sweden , Denmark / Greenland , USA ) are regular guests here. On the outskirts of Ny-Ålesund there is a launch site for sounding rockets ( SvalRak ).
On July 14, 2008, an agreement was signed to build a tower to measure climate change near Kings Bay. The Amundsen-Nobile Climate Change Tower is 30 meters high and has been providing data since October 2009.
| Research institution | country | description | Opened |
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| Norsk Polar Institute |
 Norway
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Sverdrup station and an air measuring station on the Zeppelinfjellet with the Norwegian Institute for Air Research ; Biology, glaciology , meteorology, atmospheric physics | 1968 |
| AWIPEV |
 Germany France
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Koldewey Station (1991) and Charles Rabot Station (1999); Atmospheric physics, biology, chemistry, geophysics | 2003 |
| Polar Research Institute of China |
 People's Republic of China
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Yellow River Arctic Station ; Atmospheric research, polar light research , biology, glaciology, geology and marine biology | 2004 |
| National Center for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR) |
 India
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Himadri Station; Atmospheric physics, biology, hydrology, geology, glaciology | 2008 |
| Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche |
 Italy
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Station “Dirigibile Italia” (Airship Italia ) and Amundsen Nobile Climate Change Tower ; Environmental research, climatology , investigation of the interaction mechanisms between atmosphere, biosphere , hydrosphere and geosphere | 1997 |
| Kings Bay |
Norway
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Marine laboratory; Marine ecology, physiology, biochemistry, oceanography, marine geology, ice physics | 2005 |
| Korean Polar Research Institute |
 South Korea
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Dasan Station; Environmental research, glacial and periglacial geomorphology, hydrology, atmospheric chemistry | 2002 |
| Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) |
 United Kingdom
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Biology, geosciences | 1991 |
| Reich University of Groningen |
 Netherlands
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ecology | 1991 |
| National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR) |
 Japan
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Rabben Station ; Atmospheric physics, biology, oceanography, glaciology, meteorology | 1991 |
| Norsk Romsenter |
Norway
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Monitoring and coordination of SvalRak | 1997 |
| Kartverket |
Norway
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Station for satellite geodesy and geodynamic studies | 1992 |
Transport and communication
The airport of Ny-Ålesund is called Hamnerabben, from there several weekly flights to Longyearbyen are offered. Ny-Ålesund has a dock on the south bank of the Kongsfjorden. In summer it is a popular stopover for cruises around Svalbard.
Maritim Radio has an automatic coastal radio station outside Ny-Ålesund, which, like all other Norwegian coastal radio stations in the Atlantic, is controlled from the manned station in Bodø.
Telenor maintains a double (2 ×) 155 MB / s radio broadband connection from the main plant in Longyearbyen to Ny-Ålesund. This covers the needs for voice and IP communication such as B. Broadband Internet and TV ( IPTV ).
The state enterprise Kings Bay is responsible for the infrastructure (water, electricity, roads, traffic, tourism) of the place.
Since Ny-Ålesund is primarily used for research, radio silence applies to a radius of 20 km, i.e. radio prohibition for voice and data radio as well as bluetooth / WLAN.
politics
For the history of politics in the original mining settlements of Svalbard, see the relevant sections in the Longyearbyen article . The Kings Bay affair , in which the Norwegian government was held responsible for various mining accidents in Ny-Ålesund, caused a political upheaval in Norway in 1963. The events, though so far from the populous south of Norway, resulted in one of the most politically significant changes in Norway in the second half of the 20th century.
tourism
The North Pole Hotel in Ny-Ålesund opened in 1936, but closed again in 1939 with the outbreak of war. It was opened again in the summer of 1965, but a year later the guests stayed away again and it closed again. In 1998 it was extensively renovated and reopened. It is the only hotel in town. As Ny-Ålesund is run by Kings Bay AS, individual tourists must register with them. A Kings Bay permit is required to carry firearms in the Ny-Ålesund area. This is only granted after a fee-based examination course.
Ny-Ålesund is visited by many cruise ships by the hour in summer. Here are the largest number of old buildings in Svalbard. All remnants of human civilization from the time before 1945 are listed on the entire archipelago. In contrast to Longyearbyen, Ny-Ålesund was practically undamaged during World War II.
One of the attractions of the place is the museum. It shows exhibits on Roald Amundsen's polar journeys in the 1920s and on mine work and daily life from 1917 to 1963.
The Amundsen villa from 1918 has also been preserved. Amundsen lived in this house in 1926 during the preparations for the Norge's pole flight .
history
Establishment of the mining settlement
The English whaler Jonas Poole discovered the first coal deposits on the Kongsfjord in 1610 . However, it would be more than three hundred years before these were used commercially. Peter S. Brandal and three partners founded the Kings Bay Kull Company in Ålesund , on the Norwegian mainland, in 1916 to mine coal for his steamers. The company founded the settlement Ny-Ålesund (Eng .: New Ålesund) and started coal mining. Because of the very cheap coal, the company soon had to seek help from the state. In 1929 all mining work was stopped and in 1933 the Norwegian state took over all shares in the Kings Bay Kull Company. In the following years only a few workers remained in Ny-Ålesund to take care of the maintenance of the buildings and equipment. It was not until 1945, after the Second World War, that the mines were put back into operation. In 1963 mining was stopped.
North Pole Expeditions
As the northernmost port in the world, Ny-Ålesund (at the time mostly called Kings Bay ) was the starting point for various Arctic expeditions, including the expeditions of Roald Amundsen together with Lincoln Ellsworth with Dornier flying boats and together with Umberto Nobile with the airship Norge and his expedition with the Airship Italia .
Amundsen was open to the use of new technologies in polar expeditions. In the fall of 1913 he discovered aviation while on a lecture tour in the United States. He approached the Norwegian Ministry of Defense and wanted to carry out an Arctic expedition by plane . The ministry agreed and on June 11, 1914, Amundsen received Norway's first civilian ticket .
In 1925, Amundsen attempted to fly over the North Pole with the two Dornier Wal flying boats "N-24" and "N-25". The wealthy mine owner James Ellsworth supported the expedition with 100,000 US dollars on the condition that his son Lincoln Ellsworth could participate. The Norwegian state also supported Amundsen, as Prime Minister Johan Ludwig Mowinckel considered it important that the Arctic islands be associated with Norway. The two flying boats took off from Ny-Ålesund on May 21, 1925. Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen was a pilot, Roald Amundsen was a navigator and Karl Feucht was a mechanic on board the “N-25” . On board the "N-24" was Leif Dietrichson pilot, Lincoln Ellsworth navigator and Oskar Omdal mechanic. However, this had to land at 87 ° 44 'N and could no longer fly due to technical defects. It was not until June 15 that a 500-meter-long provisional runway was built on the ice so that all six could take off with the same aircraft. The plane landed on Brennevinsfjorden near Nordaustlandet on the same day . The landing place has since been called Amundsenodden and the area Dornier-Walflya . The seal-catching ship “Sjøliv” salvaged the six members of the expedition and brought them back to Ny-Ålesund.
In 1926, Amundsen and the Italian Umberto Nobile made another attempt to reach the North Pole, this time in an airship. In Ny-Ålesund a landing mast and an airship hangar open at the top were built for this purpose . Together with a crew of 16, the two reached the North Pole on May 12, 1926 with the Norge airship after taking off from Ny-Ålesund on May 11. This is considered to be the first successful and clearly documented North Pole trip in history. It is also undisputed that Amundsen and Oscar Wisting were the first people to both reach poles.
In May 1928 Nobile undertook a second airship voyage to the North Pole, this time with the Italia . Amundsen was absent again because of differences of opinion. Amundsen was killed in the rescue operation triggered by the crash of the Italia on May 25, 1928 while returning from the North Pole. Nobile was held responsible for the accident and emigrated from Italy first to the Soviet Union and later to the USA.
fishing
There was extensive cod fishing around Svalbard in the decade from 1873 to 1883 , but in the summer of 1883 the fishing fleet of 18 boats returned to the mainland empty-handed. It was not until fifty years later, with the support of the Norwegian government, that fishing boats returned to the cod banks. The Kings Bay Kull Company sold salt , provisions, spare parts and other goods to the fishermen, which came in handy but was not profitable. At first the fishery produced good yields, but then came to a standstill again shortly before the Second World War because there was no cod.
Second World War
During the Second World War, all residents of Svalbard were evacuated because the Allies were unable to protect Svalbard from the Axis powers. The population from Ny-Ålesund was first brought to Longyearbyen and then from there to Scotland with the Empress of Canada . The power plant, the radio station, as well as the railway and mine entrances were destroyed to prevent the Germans from using these facilities themselves. In contrast to Longyearbyen, however, Ny-Ålesund remained unscathed during the war, so that a lot from that time can still be seen there today.
Resumption of mining
After the Second World War, the demand for coal was high, which resulted in high prices. Mining in Ny-Ålesund was therefore resumed in 1945 and soon production was 60,000 tons per year, but the conditions for mining were difficult as the miners had to deal with various geological problems.
In 1948, Ny-Ålesund was hit by the first mining disaster that killed 15 people. A total of six accidents resulted in the death of dozens of people. As a result, the safety equipment in the mines was improved, which reduced the number of accidents, but these cost the state 21.7 million Norwegian kroner in 1961 alone , at an inopportune time because coal prices had fallen significantly in 1957.
Kings Bay Affair
The final cessation of coal mining followed in 1963 after another mine accident. Now there was an open discussion in the Storting about whether the trust of Einar Gerhardsen's government should be withdrawn because it had not exercised its supervision over the activities of Kings Bay sufficiently. An investigation then also seriously accused at least one minister. The motion of no confidence was successful and Gerhardsen had to resign. The Kings Bay Affair was Norway's greatest political scandal after World War II.
After the mining accident in 1962, collections were made nationwide for the survivors. Kings Bay opened a foundation that paid pensions to the widows and underage children of the victims. In Ny-Ålesund there is a memorial in memory of the mine victims.
Development into a research location
After the mines closed, the government looked for alternative uses for the buildings and the existing infrastructure. Options that were examined included starting points for oil wells, fishing factories, hotels and research. In 1964 the first research center was built that would operate on behalf of the European space agency ESRO . The collected data was transmitted to Darmstadt in Germany via a radio link. The Norwegian Polar Institute began research in Ny-Ålesund in 1968. While there were only seven men wintering here in the 1974/1975 season, five of them from the Kings Bay Kull Company, interest in polar research has now grown steadily and the village has been able to establish itself as the center of polar research on Svalbard over the past twenty years .
Gold prospecting
The Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani requested in 2003 when Sysselmann of Svalbard for permission, test drilling for gold in the area of Svansen, about 18 km from Ny-Alesund away to be able to perform. Samples from 1988 indicated that the area might contain a gold vein. Surface sampling indicated 10 grams of gold per ton of rock over a large area. The application was initially rejected because no estimates of the ecological consequences of gold mining were available. A corresponding study came to the conclusion that the ecological and social consequences of the test drillings are negligible. However, a follow-up investigation revealed that the increased commercial interest and the expected additional air pollution associated with the increased activity were incompatible with Ny-Ålesund's research programs. The Store Norske report was accordingly criticized as inadequate. Nevertheless, the Sysselmann initially gave the green light for the test drilling under certain conditions. An appeal has been lodged with the Norwegian Ministry of the Environment against this decision by Sysselmann. The then Environment Minister Børge Brende agreed with the opponents (mainly research groups from Ny-Ålesund) and withdrew the permit, mainly because of the expected air pollution from the transports. He affirmed that the place was and should remain an international research station and that the untouched and clean nature is an essential feature that distinguishes it as a research center.
Timetable
- 1916 - Peter S. Brandal, Trygve Klausen and two other investors found the Kings Bay Kull Company on December 14th, which acquired the mining rights for 250,000 kroner
- 1917 - start of coal mining
- 1925 - Roald Amundsen uses Ny-Ålesund as a base for his flight to the North Pole
- 1926 - Richard Evelyn Byrd starts his three-engine Fokker towards the North Pole
- 1926 - Roald Amundsen uses Ny-Ålesund as a starting point for an airship trip to the North Pole
- 1928 - Umberto Nobile uses Ny-Ålesund as a starting point for an airship trip to the North Pole
- 1929 - Kings Bay Kull Company ceases business due to financial problems
- 1933 - The Norwegian government acquires all shares in the Kings Bay Coal Company
- 1936 - The North Pole Hotel opens
- 1945 - Mining in Ny-Ålesund resumes after the Second World War
- 1948 - The first mining disaster in Ny-Ålesund
- 1962 - Several mine accidents claim dozens of lives. The government of Einar Gerhardsen occurs as a result of Kings Bay Affair back
- 1963 - Mining is stopped.
- 1966 - Tromsø's Northern Lights Observatory establishes a station in Ny-Ålesund
- 1967 - The European aerospace organization starts research in Ny-Ålesund
- 1968 - The Norwegian Polar Institute opens a research station
- 1990 - The Norwegian Institute for Air Research opens a measuring station on the Zeppelinfjellet
- 1991 - The German Alfred Wegener Institute and the Japanese National Institute of Polar Research are opened
- 1997 - Italian research begins in Ny-Ålesund
- 1997 - Svalbard Rocket Range ( SvalRak ) opened and first rocket launched
- 2002 - Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani searches for gold near Ny-Ålesund
- 2002 - Korea Ocean Research and Development Institute is established
- 2003 - The Sysselmann from Svalbard gives permission to mine gold
- 2004 - The Norwegian Minister for Environment Protection revokes the license
- 2004 - Polar Research Institute of China opens in Ny-Ålesund
- 2006 - 26,000 tourists visit Ny-Ålesund
- 2008 - The Indian Research Minister Kapil Sibal opens a station of the Indian Polar Institute.
literature
- Per Kyrre Reymert: Ny-Ålesund - the world's northernmost mining town . Sysselmannen på Svalbard, 2016, ISBN 978-82-91850-45-0 (English, sysselmannen.no [PDF; 1.6 MB ; accessed on October 30, 2018]).
Web links
- Ny-Ålesund on kingsbay.no (English)
- Spitzbergener Zeitung from Ny-Ålesund (the current issues, German)
- Homepage of the German-French station in Ny-Ålesund (English)
- Article about the British station at Ny-Alesund (English)
- Research with bear killer Urs Willmann DIE ZEIT No. 39 (from September 22, 2005)
- Yr.no - Norwegian Meteorological Institute and NRK - Ny-Ålesund
Individual evidence
- ^ Jan Leiendecker: The population in Longyearbyen is shrinking. In: spitzbergen.de. February 11, 2014, accessed May 15, 2020 .
- ↑ a b c Øystein Overrein: Kongsfjordens og Krossfjordens dyreliv. In: cruise-handboka.npolar.no. Norsk Polarinstitutt, May 2015, accessed September 19, 2019 (Norwegian).
- ↑ St. report. No. 22 (2001-2002). Nærings- og handelsdepartementet, accessed on March 5, 2008 .
- ^ Kristin Straumsheim Grønli: Internasjonal forskning trues av norsk gullgraving. Forskning.no, May 26, 2003, accessed January 20, 2020 (Norwegian).
- ↑ Query of available data from the "Amundsen-Nobile Climate Change Tower"
- ↑ Amundsen-Nobile Climate Change Tower Integrated Project (CCT-IP). In: researchinsvalbard.no. Svalbard Science Forum, accessed March 13, 2019 .
- ^ Research Stations in Ny-Ålesund. Kings Bay, accessed October 29, 2016 .
- ^ Ny-Ålesund from Å to Z - Your guide to survival in Ny-Ålesund. Information brochure for visitors. In: kingsbay.no. July 2016, accessed October 30, 2018 .
- ^ The history of Ny-Ålesund. In: kingsbay.no. Archived from the original on February 14, 2010 ; accessed on April 25, 2019 .
- ↑ Thor B. Arlov: Svalbards historie . 2nd revised edition. Tapir Akademisk Forlag, Trondheim 2003, ISBN 82-519-1851-0 , p. 335 .
- ^ Tim Greve: Svalbard - Norge i Nordishavet . Grøndahl & Søn Forlag A / S, 1975, ISBN 82-504-0107-7 , pp. 60 .
- ↑ Planned surveys. In: snsk.no. Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani, archived from the original on November 13, 2008 ; accessed on September 10, 2019 (English).
- ↑ Gullgraving kan true forskningen på Svalbard. Norsk institutt for luftforskning, archived from the original on January 14, 2006 ; Retrieved March 8, 2009 (Norwegian).
- ↑ Kristin Straumsheim Grønli: Får grave gull på Svalbard. Forskning.no, June 13, 2003, accessed January 20, 2020 (Norwegian).
- ↑ Sikrer Ny-Ålesund som internasjonal forskningsplattform. Press release from the Norwegian Ministry of the Environment . In: regjeringen.no . January 12, 2004, accessed April 15, 2020 (Norwegian).