page_title: Longyearbyen
section_title: Economy
hierarchical_section_title: Longyearbyen / Economy
caption_attribution_description: Русский: Сделана работа во время участия в международной экспедиции Михаила Малахова "Полярный меридиан. Щпицберген-2014". В посёлке Лонгиер сохраняются многие артефакты - части технических устройств по добыче угля в разное историческое время. Это - местные достопримечательности.English: Old coal filling station. Drawing by Max Presnyakov, 2014
context_page_description: Longyearbyen, the largest settlement and the administrative centre of Svalbard, Norway, had a population of 2,368 as of August 2019. It stretches along the foot of the left bank of the Longyear Valley and on the shore of Adventfjorden, the short estuary leading into Isfjorden on the west coast of Spitsbergen, the island's broadest inlet. Since 2002 Longyearbyen Community Council has had many of the same responsibilities as a Norwegian municipality, including utilities, education, cultural facilities, fire brigade, roads and ports. The town is the seat of the Governor of Svalbard. It is the world's northernmost settlement of any kind with more than 1,000 permanent residents. Since 2015 Arild Olsen has served as Mayor.
  Known as Longyear City until 1926, the town was established by and named after American John Munro Longyear, whose Arctic Coal Company started coal-mining there in 1906. Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani took over the mining operations in 1916, and still conducts mining. The German Kriegsmarine almost completely destroyed the town on 8 September 1943, but rebuilding took place after the Second World War.
context_section_description: The only mining still taking place in Longyearbyen is at Mine 7, located 15 kilometers (9 mi) up Adventdalen. It produces 70,000 tonnes (69,000 long tons; 77,000 short tons) of coal annually, of which 25,000 tonnes (25,000 long tons; 28,000 short tons) is used to fuel Longyear Power Station, Norway's only coal-fueled power station. Most of Store Norske's production is done at Sveagruva, located on Van Mijenfjorden, 60 kilometers (37 mi) south of Longyearbyen. No roads connect the communities; instead, workers live in dormitories in Svea. Seventy percent commute home to the mainland while thirty percent commute to Longyearbyen. Mining has not been profitable and Store Norske relies on state subsidies to retain production.
  The University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS) has 350 students and a permanent faculty of 40 professors and assistants and 120 guest lecturers. UNIS does not offer degrees, but instead offers semester courses in biology, physics and geology. Student housing is located at Nybyen. The college is part of the 12,000 m² (130,000 sq ft) Svalbard Science Centre, which also features the Norwegian Polar Institute, EISCAT and Svalbard Science Forum. In 2006, about 9,000 research days were spent in Longyearbyen, most of which were by Norwegians. This made Longyearbyen the second-largest research outpost on Svalbard, marginally below Ny-Ålesund. In contrast, Longyearbyen has almost only Norwegian research, while Ny-Ålesund is roughly evenly split between Norwegian and foreign.
  Svalbard Satellite Station was built because of Longyearbyen's excellent location to download data from satellites in polar orbit. Located at Platåberget above Hotellneset, it was built as a cooperation between NASA and the Norwegian Space Centre, but has since 2001 been operated by Kongsberg Satellite Services. EISCAT operates an incoherent scatter radar to study the northern lights. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, administered by the Global Crop Diversity Trust, is a secure underground facility capable of storing millions of crop seeds. The facility has been designed to protect against natural and human disasters, including global warming, floods and fires and nuclear holocaust. The site was chosen for a number of factors including its remoteness, sound geology and the ambient temperature of the permafrost.
  Longyearbyen is the centre of tourism on the archipelago, although most tourism is generated based on natural experiences rather than visiting the town itself. However, Longyearbyen does provide supplies, accommodation and several museums. In 2008, Longyearbyen experienced 89,000 guest-nights, up from 30,000 in 1995. The average guest stayed 2.2 nights and 60 percent of the capacity was used by tourists. About 40,000 tourists flew into Longyearbyen. Two-thirds of the tourists come from Norway. In 2007, the tourism industry had a revenue of NOK 291 million and produced 200 man-years.
caption: Old coal filling station. Drawing by Max Presnyakov, 2014.
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