Svalbard, Norway

Svalbard is an archipelago located in the Arctic Ocean about 600 miles north of the Norwegian mainland. This places it about half way between the mainland and the North Pole. The main island is Spitsbergen home of the largest settlement, Longyearbyen. We spent a week there in a small ship during July, 2000. There was much sea ice, many glaciers and icebergs, polar bears, and every imaginable sort of weather. The polar bear photos have their own page, and there are some additional images from Svalbard in our Ice gallery.

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A Zodiac "cruise" along a glacier face in the Svalbard Archipelago, Norway.

A Zodiac and glacier ice in a fjord in Norway's Svalbard Archipelago.

A Zodiac and glacier ice in a fjord in Norway's Svalbard Archipelago.

A female polar bear had been swimming with her two second-year cubs.

A huge piece of ice calves off a glacier as we floated by in a Zodiac.

Lenticular clouds over Hinlopen Strait, between Spitsbergen and Nordaustlandet (Northeast Island), Svalbard, Norway.