Svalbard - 2015

Svalbard Circumnavigation

As the sea around Svalbard opens up from the ice during the summer months we got the opportunity to navigate up to 80.42°N and explore of the archipelago in details searching for polar bears and arctic wildlife. Heading East, the broken ice allowed us to reach Kvitøya where all three participants of the Geographic North Pole by hydrogen balloon expedition, led by Swedish explorer an aeronaut S.A Andée, died in October 1897. Until Andrée's last camp was found in 1930, the expedition's fate was the subject of myth and rumours


On our way back to Longyearbyen we stopped by Barentsburg, a coal mining and second-largest settlement in Svalbard, with about 455 inhabitants. The settlement is almost entirely made up of ethnic Russians and Ukrainians

Map of Svalbard archipelago showing main islands and settlements in the Arctic Ocean.
Directional signpost with polar bear warning sign shows distances to various destinations in the Arctic region.
Light blue wooden house against dark stormy sky in arctic settlement.
Aerial view of a remote coastal settlement nestled between mountains and water in Svalbard.
Group of walruses resting together on a rocky beach in their natural habitat.
Massive blue-tinted glacier ice formation emerging from murky water under dramatic stormy skies.
A blue glacier flows between mountain peaks into a pristine alpine lake.
Harbor seals lounging on rocky shore during low tide.
Turquoise glacial ice chunks float in calm waters near a massive glacier face.
A large blue iceberg floats in dark ocean waters under stormy skies.
Arctic fox resting on snow-covered terrain near rocky outcrops.
A walrus rests on floating ice in arctic waters with scattered ice floes in the background.
A lone polar bear traverses a snowy slope with exposed rock face in the Arctic.
Birds silhouetted against a golden sunset sky over arctic ice floes.
A yellow boat navigates near a massive glacier between mountain peaks in a fjord.
Ice floes and icebergs float in arctic waters under a dramatic cloudy sky.