About Ny-Alesund settlement in Svalbard and Amundsen´s flight in the airship Norge to the North Pole. - new improved version -

1. Adventure in Svalbard :
From Ny Ålesund to the North Pole
Ny Ålesund is situated on the northwest coast of the Svalbard island
Spitzberg, on the Arctic ocean.
The settlement is the northernmost permanently inhabitated place on
Earth.

2. The Svalbard archipelago lies only 900
km south of the North Pole.
Due to the circulation of warm wet air
from Western Europe and the Northern
Atlantic, its winter temperatures are not
much different from those encountered
in the French Alps. This explains the
relatively wet, mild climate.

3. Ny Ålesund is located
almost at 79º N, inside a
beautiful and sheltered
fiord called Kongsfjord
(King's fiord) .

4. The settlement stands on the
south shore of the fjord, in a
tundra plane between mountain
and sea.
The bay is 26 km long and 14
km maximum wide. Two
glaciers, Kronebreen and
Kongsvegen, head the fjord.

5. The beautiful and sheltered Kongsfjord is fed by some major glaciers. .

6. Mountains, glaciers, fiord and tundra: the environment of Ny Ålesund.

7. Ny Ålesund stands on the tundra area on the right.

8. Ny Ålesund, Kongsfjord, NW Spitzberg
Population 30-35 , up to 120 in summer
Coordinates 78º 56‟ N, 11º 56‟ E

9. View from the pier.
The front buildings: the red Museum and the orange „London Houses’

10. The shore where the setllement stands provides 50 km of tundra and alluvial
plain.

11. The town started as a coal
mining site and lasted until
1962, reaching some 400
residents.
After a tragic mining
accident, coal mines where
shut and some years later Ny
Ålesund became a research
station.

12. Old wooden buildings contrast with the distant radio telescope.

13. A young researcher reading in the sun, outside his dormitory.
Presently, 30 to 35 permanent residents live there, mostly research scientists
from several countries and administrative / logistic stuff from King’s Bay
enterprise.

14. Milk is best kept out in the
cold !

15. Residential houses, the “London Houses” were relocated from across the fjord;
their original place was the english mining settlement of New London (Ny London).
Down left, the dutch station.

16. When he weather allows, the flat soil
provides good cycling conditions

17. The main street in a sunny spring day

18. The town center, with the clear blue Post Office, the Hotel and also the
greenhouse; around, several research buldings.

19. The town center as seen from the pier

20. Ny-Ålesund is an important
cultural heritage site, with 30
listed buildings (out of 60 in
total) as of historic relevance.
1 – Mellageret café
3 – London Houses
4 – Harland house (NERC)
5 – Museum
9 – Green harbour house
10 – Post office
11 – North Pole Hotel
12 – Amundsen statue
16 – Amundsen villa
17 – Kings Bay Center, Messa
23 – Blue House (AWI)
43 – Power station
49 – Artic Marine lab
The tundra areas surrounding the
village are stricktely protected bird
sanctuaries.

21. Again the town center with the main buidings – Hotel, Post Office, the AWI blue
house, and far back the Museum, the „London Houses‟, the café and the power
unity.

22. The old telegraph station, during the
mining period
Green Harbour house, the oldest
house in Ny Ålesund
The bath house in the mining years Old mining days school

23. Heritage Ny-Ålesund

24. Being so northern, some absolute records are expected, like having the
most northern train, hotel and post office. There is also a souvenir
store, a café/pub and a museum, also records themselves, as well as
the northernmost statue - of Roald Amundsen, the norwegian explorer .

26. The northernmost hotel, Nordpol Hotellet.
Built in 1920, it was from 1936 used to house fishermen.

27. The northernmost statue: Roald Amundsen

28. A norwegian explorer of
the Arctic and Antarctic
regions, Amundsen was
the first person to reach
both the North and South
Poles.
He is known as the first to
traverse the Northwest
Passage. He disappeared
in June 1928 while taking
part in a rescue mission.

29. Amundsen villa (1918)
This is where Roald Amundsen
stayed when he was in Ny-Ålesund
while the airship "Norge" was moored.

30. http://www.svalbardmuseum.no
http://www.kingsbay.no
In the center of the village there
is a museum and memorial for
Roald Amundsen.
The museum “Ny-Ålesund By-
og Gruvemuseum” shows the
history of the settlement and its
coal.
Space is also given to Roald
Amundsen's use of Ny Ålesund
as the starting point of his flying
expeditions to the North Pole in
1925 and 1926.

31. The AWI Blue House, German research station „Koldewey‟ (1991), is part of
the French - German Base. It provides research facilities for scientists such as
biology, chemistry, geology and atmospheric physics labs. The Blue House has
offices, bedrooms and living space for eight people.

32. Installed in the blue
house are
- spectrometer
- photometer
- laser-„radar‟
- balloon-borne ssensors

33. The main tourist attraction…

36. It‟s the northernmost Post Office !

41. The cruise ship Fram, devoted to arctic and
polar routes, is a frequent visitor in Kongsfjord

42. Also, Ny Ålesund has the most
northerly greenhouse !

43. And the northernmost train – Ny Ålesund s heritage old mine railway.

44. The railway (steam engine of 1909) is a monument to the mining
history of Ny Ålesund .

46. The steamtrain worked from 1917 to 1959 to transport coal from the
mines to the harbour .

47. The northermost restaurant in the world:
‘Messa’, the restaurant in Ny Ålesund, at King’s Bay Sevice Center,
78º 56 N.

48. Lounge with a view

49. Servicebygget
The main service building of Kings Bay Service Center with the
reception, restaurant, shop, lounge and offices.
Built in 1958.

50. Warm cosy lights in the arctic night

51. Ny Ålesund has its own café:
The much red Mellageret Kafé

54. A coffee under the arctic moon, overlooking the fiord…

55. This is the airship mooring mast
from where the Norge airship set
out to the North Pole.
It‟s the main historic heritage of
Ny Ålesund , and the story of
that adventure will be told further
on.

57. The surrounding area of glaciers and fjords

58. Ny Ålesund, the fiord and the mountains - air view in the winter sun.

59. Kronebreen glacier

60. Kronebreen glacier, in the Kongsfjord, is one of Svalbard's fastest
glaciers.

62. Kronebreen and the “Three Crowns” mountains

63. Kongsvegen Glacier

64. Seabirds scatter as Kongsvegen calves sending massive ice blocks into Arctic
Ocean.
Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) grazes tundra

65. Tourist ship visiting glaciers in the Kongsfjord

66. A former Russian research ship now used for expedition cruising.

67. Ny-Ålesund Hamnerabben airport.

68. Clearly visible here are the runway and the telescope antenna.

69. Flights are offered two to three days a week to Svalbard
Airport, Longyearbyen, by Lufttransport with Dornier 228 aircrafts.

71. Fauna
Polar bears, wild reindeer, arctic foxes, walrus, whales, seals and many
species of migratory birds - plenty of wildlife lives in or around the settlement.
The popular name for the
Atlantic puffin is rightfully
„sea parrot‟.

72. Arctic fox
Arctic foxes live literally in
the village and are a delight
to watch.

73. Some 5 000 polar bears live in Svalbard , and largely outnumber the less
than 3 000 habitants. They are a danger for careless visitors, so rules must
be strictly obeyed.

74. Bear footpath
Real danger –
no adventure in wild
nature without guns.

75. Svalbard reindeer

76. Arctic tern
Reindeer grazing tundra

77. The tundra areas surrounding Ny-Ålesund are bird reserves, in order to
protect bird nesting.

78. Black-legged kittiwakes flock on iceberg beside glacier in Kongsfjorden.

79. flock on iceberg beside glacier in Kongsfjordenflock on iceberg beside glacier in Kongsfjorden
The elegant arctic
terns perform the
longest regular migration
by any known animal:
40 000 km in one year.
The arctic tern

80. Ivory gulls

81. Flora
Svalbard Poppy, in yellow and
white, considered the 'national'
flower.

82. These flowers are perched high enough to grab every bit of sunlight available
in their short seasons.

83. Ny Ålesund is becoming increasingly popular as a base for polar research.
The relatively mild climate, easy accessibility by plane and boat, along with the
well-developed infrastructure, and highly specialised research facilities - those
are the arguments of Ny-Ålesund as a central European platform for arctic
research.
Presently there are 11 participating countries in several projects.
Science and Research in Ny Ålesund

84. The Geophysics and Astronomy station
The 20 m radio telescope of the space-geodetic observatory at Ny-
Ålesund, close to the runway and control tower.

85. Tethered ballon - a captive balloon system
- for atmospheric measurements.

86. Studies on the low
atmosphere's physics.
The National Research
Council of Italy (CNR)
“Dirigible Italia” house

87. The (UK) Natural Environment Research Council's
Arctic Research Station (NERC) – Harland House
- Laboratory, workshop and storage space plus bedrooms

88. A global warming experiment on the tundra.

89. Netherlands Arctic Center of
the University of Groningen
Decoration detail on the
dutch station.

90. China‟s
“The Yellow River ” research station.

91. King’s Bay Marine
Laboratory
Opened in June 1st 2005, it is the
northernmost laboratory of its
kind. It is dedicated to research in
marine
ecology, physiology, biochemistry, as
well as some physical sciences like
oceanography, marine geology and
ice physics.
The lab is largely financed
by a consorium including
Norway, Italy, France and
Japan, USA and the UK.

92. A wooden sculpture outside the marine lab, overlooking the sea.

93. Wooden sculpture overlooks sea

94. „Dirigibile Italia‟ in the polar night

95. The following institutions/countries are based in Ny-Ålesund:
• Norwegian Polar Institute and Zeppelin Station for Atmospheric Monitoring and
Research in cooperation with the Norwegian Institute for Air Research,
• The Norwegian Mapping Authority – station for satellite geodesy and geo-dynamic
studies.
• University of Tromsø – climate facility for experimental plant biology. University of
Oslo – station for research and education.
• Norwegian Space Centre – launching facility for scientific rockets, SVALRAK,
• China – Yellow River Station. Research in the fields of atmosphere, northern
lights, biology, glaciology, geology and marine biology.
• France - Rabot-station in Kongsfjorden.
• Germany – Koldewey Station, biological and atmospheric research, run by the
Alfred Wegener Institute.
• Great Britain – station for biological research, run by the National Environmental
Research Council.
• India – Himadri research station, managed by The National Centre for Antarctic
and Ocean Research.
• Italy – Dirigibile Italia Station, run by the Italian Research Council CNR and
Institute for Atmospheric Investigations.
• Japan – station for glaciology and climate research, run by the National Institute
for Polar Research.
• Kings Bay – Marine Laboratory.
• South Korea – Dasan Station. Research in the fields of marine biology, geology and
physics of the atmosphere.

96. The Flight to the Pole

97. The main historic event connected with Ny Ålesund is the flight of the
airship "Norge", the first expedition to reach the North Pole.
Here was the starting point of Roald Amundsen‟s expeditions to reach
the North Pole in 1925 onboard an airship.

98. The Norge was specially designed by Umberto
Nobile for Arctic conditions: reinforced by metal
frames at the nose and tail, connected by a
flexible tubular metal keel connecting the
two, driven by three engine gondolas, these were
the main characteristics:

99. - Lifting gas: hydrogen
- Length: 106 m
- Gas capacity: 19,000 m³
- Performance: 115 km/h
- Payload: 9,500 kg
- Engines: 3 Maybach total power of 780 Hp/582 kW

100. The flight started off from Rome on 29 March 1926, then went via Oslo
and Leningrad to Vadsø in northern Norway, where the airship mast
is still standing today. The expedition then crossed the Barents Sea
to reach the Svalbard islands. On the 7th of May the dirigible
moored in King's Bay, Ny Ålesund, to make its final preparations.

101. The Norge over King's Bay.

102. • Norge at Ny Alesund “garage”
The Norge enters the hangar at King’s Bay. This massive structure was built in
1926. The top was left open intentionally since the hangar was intended to provide
protection from side winds only.

103. Departure from King’s Bay of dirigible "Norge“.
11th May 1926

104. The airship left Ny-Ålesund for the final stretch across the polar ice on
May 11 at 9:55. The 16 man expedition included Amundsen, the
airship's designer and pilot Umberto Nobile, and polar explorer and
expedition sponsor Lincoln Ellsworth.
On May 12 they reached the North Pole, at which point the
Norwegian, American and Italian flags were dropped from the airship
onto the ice. Amundsen wrote in his notebook that, at 02:20 in the
morning, they were at the North Pole, 200 metres high with a

105. In the end, the crew made it as far as a frozen lake at Teller, 56 miles
north of Nome, Alaska, when Amundsen insisted on a landing. They
managed a smooth touchdown, and pulled the gas-release cords to
deflate the airship.

107. A monument to the successful crossing over the North Pole in 1926 by the
airship Norge.

108. The airship mooring mast in
Ny-Ålesund.
Now there is a free camping
ground located nearby.

109. Italian Umberto Nobile returned to Ny Ålesund in 1928 for another north polar
flight. However, his redesigned airship Italia crashed on the ice some 60 miles
north of Svalbard on the return from a claimed attainment of the North
Pole, killing half the crew. Nobile and several others were in the gondola when
it hit the ice pack and they were thrown out onto the ice.
A Swedish pilot, Lundborg, eventually reached the crash site by air and
removed Nobile to Kings Bay. However, Lundborg damaged his plane on the
return trip to save more survivors and had to be rescued himself. Eventually a
Russian icebreaker reached the crash site and rescued the remaining
survivors.
As a further tragedy, Roald Amundsen lost his life after take-off from Tromsø
in a crash with his seaplane Latham searching for Italia survivors, The Italia
crash sparked the first massive, international air-sea rescue in the far north.

110. The crash of the Italia was a
dramatic event followed
anxiously by strong press
coverage.

112. • http://www.kingsbay.no/
• http://dev.cruise-handbook.npolar.no/en/kongsfjorden/ny-
alesund.html
• http://dev.cruise-handbook.npolar.no/en/kongsfjorden/ny-
alesund.html
• http://www.fiddlersgreen.net/models/Aircraft/Norge-Airship.html
• http://members.tripod.com/90north/italiacrash1.htm
Sources:
Slideshow by Mário Ricca, 2013