Svalbard

The rocks of Svalbard are very, very old.

Some were made at the bottom of the sea. Some were made from melted rock deep underground. Over a long time the rocks were pushed and folded into mountains. Then ice carved them into sharp peaks.

Svalbard is like a giant library of rocks. The Norwegian Polar Institute says no other place in northern Europe shows so many ages of Earth's history in its rocks. Because there is little soil or plant cover, the bare rock is easy to see.

Some rocks are hard, ancient granite: the highest mountain, Newtontoppen, is made of it. Others are layers of sand, gravel and mud that piled up over millions of years, some of them on old sea floors. Over millions of years, the rocks were folded and broken by movements of Earth's crust, which Britannica says gave the islands their mountains. During the last ice age most of Svalbard was buried under ice, and glaciers still cover much of it today. Many of them reach all the way to the sea. Austfonna, on Nordaustlandet, is the largest ice cap in Scandinavia by area, according to the US National Snow and Ice Data Center.

The Norwegian Polar Institute's geological guide divides Svalbard's rocks into three units: an old basement (Precambrian to Silurian), unaltered sedimentary rocks (late Palaeozoic to Tertiary) and young Quaternary deposits. The basement was assembled from crustal blocks that came from places thousands of kilometers apart and were thrust together in several orogenies, ending with the Caledonian mountain-building about 410 million years ago, when Svalbard's rocks lay in a chain that ran through Scandinavia to Scotland. Granite intruded during that uplift forms Newtontoppen.

The institute stresses that the old idea that Svalbard drifted from the Equator is only partly correct: its Devonian rocks, deposited 410 to 360 million years ago in a tropical zone, formed before much of today's bedrock existed. Britannica attributes the mountainous relief to folding and faulting, and notes coastal plains formed when sea level was higher. Most of the archipelago was ice-covered in the last ice age, and glaciers and snowfields still cover nearly 60 percent of it, many ending in the sea.

Svalbard is getting warmer.

Some winters now bring rain instead of snow. Ice on the sea and on the land is melting. Scientists measure the changes every year.

Svalbard's climate is changing quickly. In 2019 a report called Climate in Svalbard 2100, made for Norway's Environment Agency, was presented in Longyearbyen. The Barents Observer, reporting on it, wrote that average temperatures were already about 4 °C warmer than in the early 1970s, and that winters had warmed by about 7 °C since 1971.

Warmer air brings rain instead of snow and thaws the frozen ground, called permafrost. That can cause landslides and floods. Polar bears and seals need sea ice, so less ice changes their world too. The report says that if greenhouse gas pollution stays medium to high, Svalbard could warm by another 7 to 10 °C by the year 2100.

The Climate in Svalbard 2100 report, commissioned by the Norwegian Environment Agency, was presented in Longyearbyen in February 2019. The Barents Observer's report on it gives average temperatures about 4 °C warmer than in the early 1970s and winter warming of about 7 °C since 1971. Co-author Lars Henrik Smedsrud said winter is warming four to five times as fast as summer and that roughly two months of winter have been lost since the 1970s. Under medium to high emission scenarios, the report projects a further rise in annual mean temperature of 7 to 10 °C by 2100.

The report expects more precipitation to fall as rain, more rain floods combined with snow and glacier melt, near-surface permafrost thawing in coastal and low-lying areas, and greater risks of landslides, avalanches and coastal erosion. The Norwegian Polar Institute notes that sea ice and the algae blooms at its edge are of utmost importance to seals, polar bears and seabirds. Researchers also stress that the worst outcomes can be reduced if emissions fall.

Polar bears can be anywhere in Svalbard.

Outside the towns, grown-ups must carry tools to scare bears away. Stay far away from bears and walruses. Never leave food out, because bears can smell it.

The Norwegian Polar Institute says polar bears can turn up anywhere in Svalbard in summer: on beaches, in valleys and even on glaciers. Visitors must be ready to meet one at any time and must keep their distance. It is against the law to lure, chase or go looking for polar bears. Anyone going outside the settlements needs proper equipment to scare bears away.

Walruses need space too. The institute's advice is to watch them through binoculars, never to stand between a herd and the water, and to stay at least 30 meters from a group of males, or 150 meters if mothers and young are there. Svalbard's law asks every visitor to take care not to disturb animals, nesting birds or plants.

The Norwegian Polar Institute warns that polar bears may be met anywhere in Svalbard, on beaches, in valleys and on glaciers in summer and on the sea ice in winter, and that their curiosity and unpredictability cause most confrontations. Section 30 of the Svalbard Environmental Protection Act forbids luring, pursuing or otherwise seeking out polar bears in ways that disturb them or put people or bears at risk, and anyone traveling outside the settlements must carry means of scaring bears off. Camps should be away from beaches and glacier fronts, guarded or surrounded by warning systems, with food stored away from sleeping areas.

For walruses, the institute's cruise handbook advises observing herds with binoculars, landing small boats at least 300 m to the side and downwind, keeping groups small and quiet, never blocking a herd's retreat to the water, and keeping at least 30 m from all-male herds and 150 m from mixed herds with females and young. The act's duty of care requires visitors to avoid unnecessary damage or disturbance to nature and cultural heritage; tour groups should walk on dry, sparsely vegetated ground rather than trampling moss tundra.