Svalbard
Experience our expedition voyages to Svalbard, all designed to engage your heart, mind, and spirit through the duration of the journey.
Unlike many areas of the Arctic, Svalbard was never inhabited by Indigenous people. The earliest record of the name appears in Icelandic sagas in 1194 as Svalbarði (meaning 'the Cold Coasts'), although whether the land referred to was Svalbard, Jan Mayen or East Greenland remains uncertain.
Legendary Dutch explorer William Barentz was the first person to definitively reach Svalbard in 1596 - and Dutch and English whalers came soon after, seeking their fortunes among the islands' rich wildlife. The islands were a no-mans land for several centuries, with Russian Pomors, Norwegians, Dutch, English and Basque whalers, hunters and trappers having free reign until the establishment of Norwegian sovereignty in 1920 with the signature of the Svalbard Treaty.
Where whalers once slaughtered, today nature has returned. Since 1920, vast tracts of Svalbard are protected as Nature Reserves and National Parks, and all wildlife here is protected by law. The islands are once again a haven for Arctic wildlife, including vast numbers of birds, Arctic foxes, reindeer, and marine mammals including whales, seals, walrus and polar bears.
Area of Svalbard
61,022 km²
Population of Svalbard
2,939 people (2020)
Facts about Svalbard
- Svalbard lies between 76°N and 81°N, but is considerably warmer than other lands at similar latitudes due to the moderating effects of the Gulf Stream
- Svalbard's main town, Longyearbyen, is Earth's northernmost city, and contains the northernmost schools, supermarket and church on Earth. The northernmost community on Earth is the research settlement of Ny-Ålesund, situated slightly north of Longyearbyen.
- Austfonna, situated in northeastern Svalbard, is the largest glacier in Europe. It covers an area of around 8,500km^2 - around the size of the island of Cyprus!
- Svalbard holds the world's largest library of seeds. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is dug into the mountains outside Longyearbyen, where the permafrost provides natural refrigeration. The Vault has the largest capacity of any seed bank globally, intended to serve as an ark of Earth's food crops in case of a disaster, and holds over a million crop samples.
- Arctic
- Svalbard
Climate of Svalbard
The climate on Svalbard is dominated by its high Arctic latitude. While the last gasp of the Gulf Stream keeps the islands warmer than other areas at a similar latitude, this is strictly relative! Longyearbyen experiences average annual high temperatures around 8°C, and minimum temperatures around -15°C.
These milder temperatures mean that the southwestern coasts of Svalbard tend to stay ice-free, allowing vessel access from late Spring. Eastern Svalbard is much colder than the west, and is usually icebound well into July.
The extreme northerly latitude of Svalbard means the islands experience midnight sun from April to August, and polar night from November to February. This extreme annual variation means in Spring and Autumn, sunrise and sunset times vary by up to 40 minutes per day!
On the whole, Svalbard experiences a polar tundra/desert climate. Vegetation is extremely limited, and precipitation is low at around 200mm per year (mainly during late summer).
Svalbard is currently experiencing some of the greatest anthropogenic warming anywhere in the world, with around 3°C of temperature rises since pre-industrial times.
Geography of Svalbard
The archipelago of Svalbard lies approximately 650km north of the Norwegian mainland between 76° and 81° N and 10° and 35° E, except for the small island of Bjørnøya, a part of the archipelago located roughly midway between Svalbard and the mainland.
The 20 major islands and the many small islets total around 62,700km2 - slightly smaller than the Republic of Ireland. Spitsbergen (often used synonymously with Svalbard) and Nordaustlandet are the largest islands, covering about 38,000 and 14,000 km2 respectively. Almost 60 % of the archipelago is covered by glaciers and around 10 % by tundra, while the rest consists of cliffs, mountains and bare rock, with the highest point (Newtontoppen) measuring 1,717 m.
Geological evidence shows us that Svalbard was not always a cold icebound realm. The oldest rocks on Svalbard were lifted out of the sea by tectonic collisions around 450 million years ago, when the region was situated roughly on the equator. Palaeoenvironmental data shows us that Svalbard has experienced hot desert periods, periods when it was covered by warm shallow tropical ocean, and then temperate forests around the time of the dinosaurs. Svalbard experienced its last glacial maximum around 22,000 years ago, when glaciers spread far beyond today's coastline.
Population of Svalbard
The population in Svalbard is almost 3,000, of whom 70 % are Norwegians (mostly in Longyearbyen) and 30 % Russians or Ukrainians (mostly in the town of Barentsburg). In the very few other small towns, there are under 50 inhabitants. Longyearbyen is the de facto capital of Svalbard, housing the islands' government and the majority of services. It is also here that the airport is located and where most tourists stay at hotels when not on board the cruise ships that also dock here.
In 2001, a local government was established in Svalbard under the Norwegian state, while Norway and Denmark agreed on the division of the sea between Svalbard including the small Norwegian island of Jan Mayen and Greenland in 2006. In recent decades, tourism has become very important for the islands, which has fortunately increased focus on the preservation of Svalbard’s beautiful and unique nature.
Tourism on Svalbard
Most visitors arrive at Longyearbyen Airport via Tromsø and Norway’s capital Oslo. Most ship-based visitors participate in expedition cruising with landings and other excursions from Zodiacs, although there is increasing land-based tourism during the summer months. Some choose to hike completely alone or in small groups, sleeping in tents or huts. Polar bears present an ever-present danger outside of the settlements on Svalbard, and visitors not travelling with professional guides (such as those onboard our vessels) must be armed by law as a precaution.
Cruise tourism usually starts in June, when maneuverability may still be limited due to ice and snow. However, on the other hand there is stunning scenery, rich and exciting wildlife along the coasts and very few other visitors.
The tourism high season takes place between July and August, when the seas are ice-free, and most of the archipelago is navigable. However, Mother Nature rules supreme on Svalbard, and expedition cruises here are by their very nature flexible, altering according to local wind, weather, sea and ice conditions. Some voyages plan to remain on the more reliably ice-free west coast, while others aim to circumnavigate the archipelago. Apart from Longyearbyen, Ny-Ålesund is the only other settlement which may be visited - due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, visiting Barentsburg is no longer permitted by the Norwegian authorities.
Our Svalbard Expeditions
Enjoy the immense beauty of Svalbard on our Arctic adventure cruises, sailing through breathtaking scenery. Experience high summer in the Arctic with Ocean Albatros - one of the few ice-class expedition ships built to withstand these harsh seas. With a Polar Code rating of 6, and a 1A Ice Class, Ocean Albatros can cope with all but the heaviest drift ice.
While our itineraries state a goal - circumnavigating the archipelago or reaching the pack ice north of Svalbard for example - on Svalbard all human activity is subject to the whims of Mother Nature, and therefore subject to change without notice! The exact locations we visit during our voyages will vary, and no two voyages are the same. One of the greatest joys of expedition cruising is the freedom to explore where and when we like.
Our experienced Captain, Expedition Leader and Expedition Team will work hard to maximise opportunities to explore off the vessel, seeking out the best weather and sea conditions and the best chances for wildlife observation. Perhaps one day we will head southwards to the bird colonies of Hornsund. The next perhaps we will sail northwards to the old whaling station of Smeerenburg or the walrus colonies of Prins Karls Forland. Perhaps the next we will forsake the land entirely and head up to the edge of the floating ice which stretches from Svalbard to Alaska and Siberia - the favourite haunt of the polar bear, King of the Arctic. Wherever we go on Svalbard, spectacular landscapes and jaw-dropping pristine natural beauty are guaranteed.