| Title: | All about Scandinavia |
| Moderator: | TLE::SAVAGE |
| Created: | Wed Dec 11 1985 |
| Last Modified: | Tue Jun 03 1997 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 603 |
| Total number of notes: | 4325 |
The Svalbard archipelago lies in the Arctic Sea between 74 and 81
degrees north latitude, and consists of nine principal and numberous
small islands [total area 62,000 sq. km, or 24,000 sq. miles]. The
archipelago was an important center for whale hunting in the 17th
century but disputes over territorial claims didn't come to a head
until the early years of the 20th century when coal deposits were
discovered.
In 1920, 41 nations recognized the sovereignty of Norway but provided
for international rights of access and economic exploitation with the
Norwegian government regulating all mineral prospecting and extraction
through a Mining Code administered by a Commissioner of Mines
[currently, Johannes Vik].
Presenttly, coal mining settlements are maintained by Norway (pop.
1227) and the Soviet Union (pop. 2244). Together, these two countries
ship in excess of a million metric tons of coal per year in
approximately equal amounts to each. The Norwegian state-owned coal
company, Store Norska Spitsbergen Kulkompagni, basically operates in
the red, having incurred financial losses of about 100 million kroner
in 1986.
In 1982, a Finnish research expedition identified new coal deposits
estimated to total 12 metric tons. Decisions are pending on the
viability of commercially exploiting these deposits.
The archipelago's administrative center is the town of Longyearbyen on
Spitsbergen. An airport was opened near there in 1975.
The Soviets have tried to get the Norwegians to revise the 1920
agreements to increase Soviet hegemony. The USSR maintains a helicopter
and mobile radar station adjoining its coal mining settlement at
Barentsburg on Spitsbergen, and has refused to recognize Norway's right
to declare a fisheries protection zone around Svalbard.
| T.R | Title | User | Personal Name | Date | Lines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 240.1 | weather station on Spitsbergen ? | HYDRA::MCALLEN | Fri Apr 06 1990 18:56 | 4 | |
I read somwhere that in addition to coal, Spitzbergen
had a strategic weather station. Who controlled
Spitzbergen etc. during WWII ?
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| 240.2 | Weather station is on Jan Mayen | TLE::SAVAGE | Wed Dec 18 1991 15:36 | 41 | |
From: [email protected] (Helge Nareid) Newsgroups: soc.culture.nordic Subject: Re: Jan Mayen Date: 17 Dec 91 21:14:22 GMT Sender: [email protected] (NetNews Administrator) Organization: The Norwegian Institute of Technology, Trondheim In article <[email protected]> [email protected] (Einar Traa) writes: >Last summer I flew past Jan Mayen (in an SAS jet). As I saw it in >sihouette against the midnight sun it looked just like any one of the >many volcanoes in the local mountains here. Is it really a volcano? > >By the way, does anybody live there? Is there still a manned weather >station there? Is it used for anything else? Yes, Beerenberg on Jan Mayen is an active volcano, the only one in Norway. There was a major eruption a few years back which added a few square kilometers of Norwegian territory. Unlike Spitzbergen, there are no restrictions on Norwegian activities on Jan Mayen (the Spitzbergen/Svalbard treaty forbids any military installations, among other things). So Jan Mayen has a manned military communications stations (with an adjoining airstrip) along with a a meterological station. All told, I believe there are about 20-odd people based at Jan Mayen at any time. Jan Mayen was no-mans land unit (about) 1930, at which time it was occupied and claimed as Norwegian territory by the Norwegian Meterological service (!), and it has remained part of Norway ever since. - Helge P.S.: All this is from memory, so I may be wrong in some details, but if I am there's bound to be somebody out there who'll correct me! -- Helge Nareid E-mail : [email protected] SINTEF Applied Physics Phone : + 47 - 7 - 59 34 18 Trondheim, Norway Fax : + 47 - 7 - 59 34 20 | |||||
| 240.3 | typo | RTOEU::CLEIGH | Keine Ahnung | Thu Dec 19 1991 08:35 | 7 |
> ship in excess of a million metric tons of coal per year in
> 12 metric tons found
This must be a typo, if a million metric tons is shipped by each
country a year, 12 tons wouldn;t be worth it
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