Kongsfjorden

The Kongsfjorden: View from the south via the Lovénøyane

The Kong Fjord (Norwegian Fjords Kong, English Kings Bay, German and sometimes Kingsbai ) is a fjord in the northwest of the island of Spitsbergen. It separates Oscar II land to the south of Haakon VII Land in the north. At its southern bank is Ny -Ålesund, the northernmost settlement of Spitsbergen.

Geography

Together with the Krossfjord the Kongsfjorden opens north of Prince Charles Foreland to about 79 ° north latitude to Greenland. During the Krossfjord extends in a northeasterly and northerly direction, finally, the Kongsfjorden runs along the south-west peninsula of Brøggerhalvøya to the drip line of the glacier Kongsvegen and Kongsbreen to the southeast. It is about 22 kilometers long and at its entrance between Kvadehuken in the south and Cape Guissez in the north to 12 km wide. In the north and east, more glaciers like like the Kongs, the Conway and the Blomstrandbreen calve directly into the fjord. This is up to 394 m deep at its input, with less than 100 m depth but relatively flat in the inner part. Here he includes numerous islands of which the largest is Blomstrandhalvøya. The volume of water of the fjord Kong is estimated for an area of ​​208.8 km ² to 29.4 km ².

Nature

Landscape

The scenery at Kongsfjorden is varied. He is surrounded by rugged mountains, so that only the Brøggerhalvøya and the entrance of the fjord have flat snow-free coastal areas. The ridge and the shore of the inner fjord are glaciated large area. To the east there are three distinctive peaks of over 1000 meters above sea level, the Tre Kroner ( Three Crowns) with the name Svea, Nora and Dana ( for Sweden, Denmark and Norway).

Flora

The inner Kongsfjorden is characterized by lush vegetation for the ratios of Spitsbergen. Fertilization by nesting birds here can grow an otherwise on the archipelago hardly encountered density and diversity of vascular plants. Among other things you will find here the Greenland scurvy grass ( Cochlearia groenlandica ), the Narrow-leaved arnica (Arnica angustifolia), the dwarf gentian ( Comastoma tenellum ), the two-piece Schuppensegge ( Kobresia simpliciuscula ), the Small Chickweed ( Arenaria humifusa ) and the Woodsia glabella.

Fauna

Numerous rocks and flat islands ensure that especially the inner part of the fjord Kong is a breeding area for many seabirds. Particularly widespread are the eider, the king eider, long-tailed duck, the glaucous gull and the snow bunting. But one also finds the pink-footed goose, barnacle goose, the sea beach runners, the Red Phalarope, the Skua and the rare Ivory Gull.

On the peninsula Brøggerhalvøya 1978 Svalbard reindeer were exposed, their inventory fluctuates greatly. Thus, the population of 375 animals broke out in 1993 due to unfavorable conditions in the next winter to just 75 animals, but recovered in subsequent years. Furthermore, to be found are arctic foxes and polar bears occasionally. In Kongsfjorden live bearded seals and several hundred ringed seals. Sightings of white whales are not uncommon.

Conservation

The Kongsfjorden not belong to any of the seven national parks of Svalbard, but in 1973 the Kongsfjorden - bird reserve (Norwegian Fjords fuglereservat Kong ) was established, a protected area of IUCN category Ia. It includes the Lovénøyane and some other islands. Since 2003 there is 1200 hectares of Ossian Sars Nature Reserve, which is intended in particular to preserve the unique plant community on Ossian Sarsfjellet, a rocky cliff between Kongsbreen and Kongsfjorden.

140 ha of the inner fjord Kong are reported by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area ( SJ003 ).

History

In the 17th century the Kongsfjorden was regularly visited by whalers. Henry Hudson called him in 1607 Whales Bay, Jonas Poole ( 1566-1612 ) 1610 Deere sound. In the 18th century pomorische trappers came into the area from the 19th century, Norwegian. 1861 Kongsfjorden was attended by a scientific expedition led Otto Torells. The Swedish chemist Christian Wilhelm Blomstrand explored while the coal reserves on the south shore of the fjord Kong. 1891 led the German polar explorer William bathing the Württemberg Spitsbergen expedition in the fjord, and the mining engineer Leo Cremer ( 1866-1901 ) examined the coal on her mineability. After 1893 led bathing annually one or two cruises to Spitsbergen by, thus paving the Spitzberg tourism, which brings more than 20,000 people today in the Kongsfjorden every summer.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Kongsfjorden was interesting as a starting point for flights to the North Pole. The first step was taken by Ferdinand von Zeppelin in 1910 by steamboat Mainz a study trip to Spitsbergen undertook to investigate the possibility of a Polflugs with one of his airships. He was accompanied by Aero lodges Hugo Hergesell and the polar explorer Erich von Drygalski. The Zeppelin flight never took place, on Hergesells initiative, but was in 1912 at the Geophysical Observatory Krossfjord Ebeltofthafen. At Zeppelin Travel remember some geographical names on Kongsfjorden, which were awarded for participants of the trip, as Zeppelinfjellet, Prins Heinrichøya, Mietheholmen (after Adolf Miethe ) and Dietrich Holmen (after Max Dietrich ( 1870-1916 ), captain of Mainz). 1925 started Roald Amundsen and Lincoln Ellsworth from Kongsfjorden from the unsuccessful attempt to reach the North Pole with two Dornier Wal flying boats. On May 7, 1926, the airship Norge arrived on Kongsfjorden, where previously a mooring mast had been erreichtet, which still stands today. But before Amundsen, Ellsworth and the captain of the airship Umberto Nobile could begin their flight to the pole, the Americans Richard Evelyn Byrd and Floyd Bennett came to them with a three -engined Fokker before. On May 8, launched their plane at Ny -Ålesund pole direction and returned to about 15 hours. The planes had accomplished a great achievement, Byrds claim to have reached the Pole, but was soon questioned and refuted. On 11 May, the Norge and reached plates started in Alaska to 71 hours after they had flown over the North Pole. Two years later Nobile returned to the Kongsfjorden. On May 13, 1928 his airship Italia at Ny -Ålesund launched a successful research Severnaya Zemlya flight. Eight days later, it flew to the North Pole and had an accident on the way back north of Kvitøya.

The first mining activities by the fjord began 1911., The British Northern Exploration Company Ltd.. build on Blomstrandhalvøya the settlement Ny- London for up to 70 people and operate under the leadership of businessman Ernest Mansfield ( 1862-1924 ), a marble quarry. Once the activities have been dormant in the First World War, the unprofitable degradation of the rock was then set completely. Sustainable was the mining of hard coal. In 1917, the Kings Bay Kul compani based in Norway Ålesund on the southern shore of the fjord Kong the mining settlement of Ny- Ålesund. The mining of coal has already been set in 1929, but resumed after the Second World War by the Norwegian state-owned Kings Bay AS. The population of the settlement grew rapidly to 200 residents. In some years, tens of thousands of tons of coal were promoted. The mining conditions were very difficult and often led to serious accidents that claimed the lives of 76 miners. After a recent serious accident on 5 November 1962 in which 21 men died, the mine was closed. The Norwegian Prime Minister Einar Gerhardsen, whose government was made responsible for the lack of security in the tunnels had to resign.

From the mid- 1960s, scientific stations of different nations in Ny- Ålesund settled, some of which are occupied all year round, so here even in winter live about 30 researchers. In summer, the number is significantly higher.