Wildlife in Spitsbergen
The landscape of the high Arctic is determined by the permafrost, and where it is continuous the ground is frozen down for several hundred metres. Only in the summer does the top metre melt sufficiently to create a poorly drained marshy soil with a certain amount of dry terrain. Arctic plants must adapt to the harsh conditions of winter, when there is intense frost, yet endure summer temperatures which may reach as high as 30º C (86º F). Mosses and lichens abound.
Polar waters are rich in invertebrates, except under permanent ice. While there may be a short-lived bloom of diatoms under the ice, the four months of greatest abundance occur when the waters are relatively ice-free. And it is there that the vast quantities of zooplankton fuel the summer influx of birds and whales.
Travel map of Spitsbergen (Svalbard Archipelago) Norway
Featuring:
- Illustrated biographies of 27 noted explorers..
- Color photos and introductory text on plants & wildlife.
- Map showing protected areas.
- Diagram charting the rising & setting of the midnight sun.
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The Arctic is seasonally home to some of the largest seabird populations in the world. No less that 183 species of birds breed in the high latitudes, taking advantage of the short but immensely productive summer season of insect abundance. As the sunlight returns in spring, the burgeoning life at the edge of the ice, under the floes, and in the open waters of the polynyas supports a huge influx of birds from the south. It has been estimated that some 16 million individual birds spend the summer in the Barents Sea segment of the Arctic Ocean.
Arctic foxes, reindeer, polar bears, seals, walruses and beluga whales are found on around the Svalbard Archipelago.
Arctic foxes
Arctic foxes are most abundant along the coast, though they wander freely over the sea ice. In winter their coats are white, but in summer they appear either smoky-grey or greyish-brown. Most of their food comes from seabird colonies and from tideline carrion.
Polar bears
are huge animals, weighing as much as half a ton and standing nearly three metres (ten feet) tall. They are superbly adapted to life on and around the pack ice, hunting seals in the winter but facing lean times in the Arctic summer, when they come ashore, hungry, dangerous, and very aggressive. Human visitors should treat them with the greatest respect. In the mid-20th century, polar bears were heavily hunted, and seemed headed for extinction. But now they are protected throughout their range and numbers are rising. There are thought to be between 3,000-5,000 in Svalbard. Their main breeding areas are off-limits to visitors, and in Kong Karls Land vehicles, boats and aircraft may not approach closer than 500 metres (one-third of a mile).
