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Ny-Ålesund
—  international research station  —
Ny-Ålesund Location in northern Svalbard
Coordinates: 78°55′0″N 11°56′0″E / 78.916667°N 11.933333°E / 78.916667; 11.933333
Country	Norway
Syssel	Svalbard
island	Spitsbergen
Population
- Total	35
Time zone	CET (UTC+2)
- Summer (DST)	+3 (UTC)

Ny-Ålesund in summer

Ny-Ålesund ("New Ålesund") is one of the four permanent settlements on the island of Spitsbergen in the Svalbard archipelago. It is located on the Brøgger peninsula at Kongsfjorden. Like the rest of Svalbard, Ny-Ålesund is a full part of the Kingdom of Norway.

Ny-Ålesund is one of the world's northernmost settlements at 78°55′N 11°56′E / 78.917°N 11.933°E / 78.917; 11.933, and is the world's northernmost functional public settlement.

Today, it is inhabited by a permanent population of approximately 30-35 persons. All of them work for one of the research stations — e.g. the Global Atmosphere Watch — or the logistics and supply company "Kings Bay AS", which 'owns' and runs the research village. In the summer the activity in Ny-Ålesund is greatly increased with up to 120 researchers, technicians, and field assistants. At present, Norway, The Netherlands, Germany, United Kingdom, France, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea and People's Republic of China all maintain research stations at Ny-Ålesund, although not all are inhabited year-round.

Ny-Ålesund is home to the new Arctic Marine Laboratory (the northernmost in the world), which was officially opened on 1 June 2005. With many open rooms and wet and dry lab spaces alike, the marine lab is particularly useful for countries which do not maintain permanent research stations in the area.

It is possible to travel to Ny-Ålesund by scheduled flights from Longyearbyen and there is a hotel. On ship cruises, Ny-Ålesund is a typical shore break. However, this tourism may cause interference with the sensitive scientific devices in the settlement, so tourists are closely observed by the local population. Also in this area, to protect the local VLBI antenna, there is a 20 kilometer exclusion zone for devices transmitting between 2.4 and 2.4835 GHz. This includes bluetooth, WLAN, and other wireless devices.^[1] The settlement is served by the airport Ny-Ålesund Airport, Hamnerabben. Near Ny-Ålesund there has been since 1997 SvalRak, a launch site for sounding rockets.

Dirigible launch tower for the Amundsen-Ellsworth-Nobile dirigible expedition

The Roald Amundsen monument and the North Pole hotel

History

Abandoned railroad locomotive from Ny-Ålesund's coal-mining days.

• 1916 — founded as a coal mining town, at first named Brandal City after the founder Peter S. Brandal
• 1926 — Roald Amundsen starts his North Pole flight in the Airship Norge
• 1962 — Kings Bay Affair - mining disaster (1962-11-05) kills 21 people; Norwegian government resigns in August 1963 due to this event, and mining is discontinued
• 1968 — the Norwegian Polar Institute opens a research base
• 1980s/90s — other nations increase their scientific activities, turning Ny-Ålesund into an international Arctic research base
• 2004 — China inaugurates the Arctic Yellow River Station, its first Arctic research station, in Ny-Ålesund on 2004-07-27
• 2008 — India inaugurates the Himadri Station, its first Arctic research station, in Ny-Ålesund

External links

• British Antarctic Survey research Station
• Webcam in Ny-Ålesund
• Streetview of Ny-Ålesund with short video information
• Web site of Kings Bay A/S, the local logistics company
• Netherlands Arctic Station
• Some photos from Svalbard (tilt-)journey (pictures of Ny-Ålesund)
• Indian research station ‘Himadri’ at Ny-Alesund in the Arctic

References

1. ^ "Kings Bay Radio Silence". 2008. http://www.kingsbay.no/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=138&Itemid=156.  

Coordinates: 78°55′N 11°56′E / 78.917°N 11.933°E / 78.917; 11.933

From Wikitravel

Ny-Ålesund is a tiny settlement on the west coast of the island of Spitsbergen, Svalbard.

Amundsen monument and the North Pole Hotel

Understand

Located at 78°55′N 11°56′E, Ny-Ålesund is by most measures the northernmost permanent settlement in the world (except for a few military bases). Founded in 1916 as a coal mining town, the town housed 400 people at its peak, until it was shut down in 1962 after an explosion killed 21 people.

Ny-Ålesund reopened in 1968 as a research base. Today owned and run by Kings Bay AS, the tiny town is home to 30-35 people year-round, but the population can swell to over 120 in the summer. Practically all inhabitants are scientists.

Get in

Ny-Ålesund can be visited fairly easily as a cruise stopover, but spending any more time there is difficult, to say the least. Bona fide scientists interested in running a research project at Ny-Alesund may contact NySMAC to apply.

By plane

Lufttransport operates semi-regular flights all year round (2-3 weekly) to Longyearbyen (25 minutes), albeit subject to weather conditions. Reservations can only be arranged via Kings Bay, and seats must be booked well in advance.

By boat

For most non-scientists a cruise stopover is the only way of reaching Ny-Ålesund. The cheapest and fastest way appears to be Spitsbergen Travel's [1] 3/4-day cruises from Longyearbyen, with rates starting at 7900 kr (c. US$1500, cheapest cabin, twin sharing). Cruises operate only from May to October.

• Mining Museum. Yes, there's one of these in every settlement on Svalbard.

Do

Summer

• Boating
• Kayaking
• Hiking

Winter

• Snowmobile trips
• Skiing expeditions

• North Pole Hotel (Nordpol Hotellet). Originally opened in 1936 to house fishermen.

• There is a free camping ground located near the Zeppelin launch tower and the Italia Memorial.