Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The first scientific expedition to Svalbard was the Russian Čičagov Expedition between 1764 and 1766, which passed Svalbard in an unsuccessful attempt to find the Northern Sea Route. It made among water and topography measurements. [29] The second expedition was organized by the Royal Navy and led by Constantine Phipps in 1773.
The economy of Svalbard is dominated by coal mining, tourism and research. In 2007, there were 484 people working in the mining sector, 211 people working in the tourism sector and 111 people working in the education sector.
The foundation for conservation was established in the Svalbard Treaty of 1920, and has further been specified in the Svalbard Environmental Act of 2001. [16] The first round of protection took force on 1 July 1973, when most of the current protected areas came into effect. This included the two large nature reserves and five of the national parks.
In 2020, Svalbard recorded its hottest ever temperature, 21.7 °C (71.1 °F), following 111 months of above-average heat. According to the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, annual precipitation on Svalbard has increased by 30 to 45 per cent over the past 50 years, mostly in the form of winter rain. Since 2009, deep permafrost temperatures ...
Svalbard, an archipelago administered by Norway and located far north of continental Europe in the Arctic Ocean, has a geography and climate largely unsuited for agriculture. Glacial ice covers 60% of its landmass, 30% is barren rock, and only 10% is vegetated.
The Svalbard Treaty of 1920 established full Norwegian sovereignty over Svalbard. All 40 signatory countries of the treaty have the right to conduct commercial activities on the archipelago without discrimination, although all activity is subject to Norwegian legislation.
The museum displays artifacts from the history of Svalbard since its settlement, and exhibits of local plants and animals. Its exhibitions describe the factors that support human activity in Svalbard, showing the close relationship between nature and human cultural history on the islands. "Life in Light and Ice" is the museum's core exhibit.
A third period began in 1978, and has lasted until the present day. Preceded by an article written by the Norwegian-Russian palaeontologist Anatol Heintz in 1964, a Soviet expedition from the Institute of Archaeology at the USSR Academy of Sciences – led by Vadim F. Starkov – set out to prove that the Russian Pomors had preceded the Dutch on Svalbard.