Longyearbyen

Longyearbyen
	City
Longyearbyen
	Longyearbyen
Flag
A country	Norway
Region	Svalbard
The mayor	Olsen, Aril
History and Geography
Based	1906
Square	;
Center height
Timezone	UTC + 1 , in summer UTC + 2
Population
Population	2040 people ( 2008 )
Official language

Longyear ^[2] ( Norwegian Longyearbyen , in Russian is also transcribed as Longyear , Longyear , Longyear or Longyear ^[3] ^[4] ^[5] , as well as Longyearbyen ) - the largest settlement and administrative center of the Norwegian province of Svalbard (archipel) .

Longyearbyen is the northernmost settlement in the world with a population of over one thousand people. Near the city is located Svalbard Airport - the northernmost airport in the world with regular flights. Svalbard International University is located in the city.

In the village under the auspices of the UN , an underground World Seed Storage was built in the event of a global catastrophe.

The city has a law that prohibits dying on its territory. If someone was struck by a serious illness or an accident with a potentially fatal outcome, the patient should be immediately transported by air or sea to another part of Norway, where he dies. But even if death occurs in the city, the dead man is buried anyway on the "Great Land". These forced measures are caused by the fact that in the conditions of permafrost the bodies do not decompose after burial and attract the attention of predators such as polar bears ^[6] . Svalbard is a bear archipelago, so every student at a local university learns to shoot exclusively on the first day of classes ^[6] .

Content

History

The city was founded in 1906 by American entrepreneurial engineer John Munro Longyearbyen who laid the foundation for a coal mine. In 1916, the settlement was sold to the Norwegian company Store Norske .

During the Second World War , after the occupation of Norway in 1940 , on September 2, 1941, all 765 inhabitants of Longyearbyen were evacuated to Great Britain . The city itself and many of the mines were destroyed on September 8, 1943 by shelling from the German battleship Scharnhorst and two destroyers , but after the war they were quickly rebuilt.

Since the mid -1970s, the Norwegian government has headed for the normalization of life in the city and the development of social infrastructure. Coal mining in the city and its environs almost came to naught by the beginning of the 1990s , and today the products of the only active mine in the city are used mainly for the needs of the city power station. In the same years, a significant development of tourism and research began.

On August 29, 1996, when approaching Longyearbyen, a Tu-154M Vnukovo Airlines plane crashed on flight 2801 ^[7] , transporting Russian and Ukrainian miners from Moscow to Spitsbergen. Killed 141 people: 130 passengers and 11 crew members.

Geography and climate

Longyearbyen is located on the island of Western Svalbard , on the banks of the Adventfjord , on both banks of a river drying out in winter.

The climate in Longyearbyen is arctic , most of the year the temperature is below zero. The average annual temperature is −6 ° C, the average January temperature is −14.6 ° C, and July is +6.5 ° C. The highest temperature - +21.3 ° C - was recorded in July 1979 , the lowest - −46.3 ° C - in March 1986 . The average annual rainfall is only 210 mm.

The polar night lasts about four months - from late October to mid-February, polar day - from mid-April to mid-August.

Climate Longyearbyen
Indicator	Jan	Feb	March	Apr	May	June	July	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Absolute maximum, ° C	−3.5	−3.8	−0.1	4.8	10,2	18,4	21.3	15.6	8.8	3.4	0.6	−2.8	21.3
Average temperature, ° C	−14.6	−14.5	−13.7	−9.8	−5.2	3.4	6.5	4.0	−3.8	−8.9	−12.9	−14.2	−6
Absolute minimum, ° C	−42.6	−40.3	−46.3	−37.2	−19.4	−6.6	−6.4	−5.1	−10.3	−21.6	−30.8	−34	−46.3
Precipitation rate, mm	22	28	29th	sixteen	13	18	24	thirty	25	nineteen	22	25	27.1
Source: Nordic Visitor

Economics

The first coal-fired power station of Longyearbyen (opened in 1924)

Until the early 1990s almost the entire life of the town was concentrated around coal mining , and to this day a significant part of the population of Longyearbyen is occupied in this industry, although almost all mining is now carried out in Sveagrova . Throughout almost its entire history, mining in Longyearbyen has rarely been profitable, but permanent settlement on Svalbard has been an important tool of Norwegian politics in the region, and the government has supported it in every way.

Over the past two decades, significant diversification of the economy has taken place in Longyearbyen, tourism is actively developing.

Media

Newspapers

In Longyearbyen, the weekly local newspaper Svalbardposten has been published since November 1948 . In 2004, the newspaper had 3,271 subscribers, which exceeds the total population of Svalbard.

Panorama of Longyearbyen

Gallery

Notes

↑ Arild Olsen (Ap) blir ny lokalstyreleder i Longyearbyen (Norwegian) . svalbardposten.no. Date of treatment January 11, 2017.
↑ Longyear // Dictionary of geographical names of foreign countries / resp. ed. A.M. Komkov . - 3rd ed., Revised. and add. - M .: Nedra , 1986. - S. 202.
↑ Vladislav Gordeev. Moscow called Oslo's absurd claim to Rogozin’s visit to Svalbard (Russian) . IA RosBusinessConsulting (04/20/2015, 12:32). Date of treatment April 20, 2015.
↑ Journey to Svalbard "Towards the Soviet Past through the Norwegian Present" (Russian) . Description of places . Travelers Club "Wind of Liberty". Date of appeal April 20, 2015. (unavailable link)
↑ Longier (Russian) (inaccessible link) . Company VIKAAR. Date of treatment April 20, 2015. Archived September 19, 2015.
↑ ¹ ² Bartlett, Duncan . Why dying is forbidden in the Arctic , BBC News .com , Norway: BBC (July 12, 2008). Date of treatment February 11, 2011.
↑ Crash of Tu-154M aircraft on Spitsbergen> Plane crashes> Momento mori> Cult> Information portal "Grotto"

Literature

Singer E.M. Country of mountains and glaciers // Nature: Journal. - 1997. - No. 8 .
Echo of Moscow: The Story of a City: Longyearbyen (Svalbard)

[1] Arild Olsen (Ap) blir ny lokalstyreleder i Longyearbyen (Norwegian) . svalbardposten.no. Date of treatment January 11, 2017.

[СГН-2] Longyear // Dictionary of geographical names of foreign countries / resp. ed. A.M. Komkov . - 3rd ed., Revised. and add. - M .: Nedra , 1986. - S. 202.

[RBK-3] Vladislav Gordeev. Moscow called Oslo's absurd claim to Rogozin’s visit to Svalbard (Russian) . IA RosBusinessConsulting (04/20/2015, 12:32). Date of treatment April 20, 2015.

[Veter-s-4] Journey to Svalbard "Towards the Soviet Past through the Norwegian Present" (Russian) . Description of places . Travelers Club "Wind of Liberty". Date of appeal April 20, 2015. (unavailable link)

[VICAAR-5] Longier (Russian) (inaccessible link) . Company VIKAAR. Date of treatment April 20, 2015. Archived September 19, 2015.

[nodying-6] ¹ ² Bartlett, Duncan . Why dying is forbidden in the Arctic , BBC News .com , Norway: BBC (July 12, 2008). Date of treatment February 11, 2011.

[Ту-154-7] Crash of Tu-154M aircraft on Spitsbergen> Plane crashes> Momento mori> Cult> Information portal "Grotto"