Spitsbergen

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Image:Sv-map.png Image:Orthographic projection over Svalbard.png Spitsbergen (or Spitzbergen in German; formerly known as West Spitsbergen or Vestspitsbergen) is the largest island in the Svalbard archipelago, situated in the Arctic Ocean. The island of Spitsbergen covers approximately 15,075 square miles (23,641 square kilometers). Formerly, this name was also applied to the entire archipelago of Svalbard, and occasionally still is. It is around 280 miles (450 kilometers) long and between 25 and 140 miles (40 and 225 kilometers) wide.

The name Spitsbergen means "jagged peaks", and was given by the Dutch explorer Willem Barents, who discovered the island while searching for the Northern Sea Route in 1596. However, this archipelago was known to Russian Pomors as early as the 14-15 centuries. They concluded that the land they had discovered was a part of Greenland and, therefore, named it Grumant (Грумант). The first records of the archipelago can be found in Russian chronicles and Icelandic sagas of the 10-11 centuries, but they can also refer to the Jan Mayen island; others believe them to be first discovered by the Vikings/Norwegians in 1194.

Spitsbergen is one of three inhabited islands in the archipelago, and according to the terms of the Svalbard Treaty, citizens of any of the signatory countries may settle in the archipelago. Currently only Norway and Russia make use of this right. The largest settlement on Spitsbergen is the Norwegian town of Longyearbyen, while the second largest settlement is the Russian coal mining settlement of Barentsburg (The Dutch sold it in 1932 to the USSR company Arktikugol).

Early whaling expeditions to Svalbard tended, because of currents and fauna, to cluster around West Spitsbergen and the islands off-shore.

Recently, Norway has decided to build a three million dollar (US) "Doomsday Vault" on the island which would house 10,000 seeds from various plant in case of nuclear war or sudden and severe ecological or environmental change.

Kvadehuksletta, on western Spitsbergen, is notable for its unique stone structures, including very circular stones and labyrinthine patterns. These structures are believed to be the result of frost heaving.

1 Seed Bank
2 See also
3 External links
4 Sources

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Seed Bank

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By the year 2007 the Norwegian government is planning on building a 'doomsday' seed bank in which as many seeds (known to man) as possible will be stored in. As reported by BBC News the Norwegian government will be building this bank by hollowing out a cave on Spitsbergen and then putting in as many seeds possible with the support from countries around the world. The proposed bank will have top security blast-proof doors and would have two airlocks. There amount of seeds would depend on the number of countries participating in the project.

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