Geography of Svalbard

Svalbard is an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean roughly centered on 78° north latitude and 20° east longitude. It constitutes the northernmost territory of the Kingdom of Norway. The three main islands in the group consist of Spitsbergen (the largest island), Nordaustlandet and Edgeøya. There are also a number of smaller islands, such as Barents Island (Barentsøya) (1,288 km (497 sq mi)), Kvitøya (682 km (263 sq mi)), Prins Karls Forland (English: Prince Charles Foreland) (615 km (237 sq mi)), Kongsøya (191 km (74 sq mi)), Bear Island (178 km (69 sq mi)), Svenskøya (137 km (53 sq mi)), Wilhelm Island (120 km (46 sq mi)) and other smaller islands or skerries (621 km (240 sq mi)).
There is no arable land in the island group due to heavy glaciation and the northern latitude. There are no trees native to the archipelago, but there are shrubs such as crowberry and cloudberry. The west coast of Spitsbergen remains navigable most of the year, due to favorable winds which keep the area ice-free. Norway claims a 200 nmi (370.4 km; 230.2 mi) fishery protection zone, but this is not recognized by neighboring Russia.
The climate of the Svalbard archipelago is arctic, tempered by warm North Atlantic Current along the west and northern coasts. This means cool summers and cold winters along the wild, rugged mountainous islands. The high land of the island interiors is generally ice covered year round, with the west coast clear of ice about one half of the year. There are many fjords along west and north coasts
Svalbard has many mineral resources, and coal was mined extensively on the west side of Spitsbergen. Ice floes often block up the entrance to Bellsund (a transit point for coal exports) on the west coast and occasionally make parts of the northeastern coast inaccessible to maritime traffic
Although many prior adverse practises are now banned, the issues surrounding past exploitation of animal resources in the Svalbard area remain a problem. With whale, seal and walrus populations are still far below than they were even two centuries ago (the average age of a Greenland whale). The population of polar bears are locally recovering from the major culls of the 1960s and 1970s that came about due to the availability of snow scooters; however, the polar bear remains threatened at a global level, due to unsustainable levels of killing by humans and marine water pollution. There are a wide variety of birds in Svalbard including puffin, Arctic skua, kittiwake and fulmar, many of which populations are being monitored.
The main islands of Svalbard is parted into several lands:
There are numerous fjords among the Svalbard islands; the five longest of which (measured from the head to open sea) are listed here:
Coastlines of the Svalbard islands (listed from largest island to smallest) show the extensive variability characteristic of glacial formation:
Although they are small when compared with the mountains of Norway, the elevation of the Svalbard island mountains accounts for much of the glacial erosion:
No roads link the settlements on the island; transportation includes boat, airplane, helicopter, and snowmobile. The gateway to Svalbard is Svalbard Airport, Longyearbyen.