Barentsøya

Barentsøya ( German: Barents Island ) is the fourth largest island of belonging to Norway Svalbard archipelago in the North Atlantic. It is located east of the island of Spitsbergen ( the main island of the archipelago ) and north of the island slightly larger Edgeøya. Barentsøya has an area of ​​1288 km ² and is 50 kilometers long and 50 kilometers wide. The island is uninhabited.

Climate

As on the entire Svalbard archipelago, the climate of the high latitude is accordingly hocharktisch. Bring the West Spitsbergen Current (the last northern tip of the Gulf Stream ) along the western coast of Svalbard for arctic conditions still relatively high temperatures and lots of precipitation, the cold Ostspitzbergenstrom on Barentsøya for much lower temperatures and for Küsteneis even in the summer months makes.

Geology

The island is composed of uniform sediments of the Triassic. These include sandstone, siltstone and mudstone that were deposited in shallow shelf seas and coastal areas. The storage is obtained largely undisguised, the layers are therefore more or less horizontally. In places, the island is very rich in fossils (mainly ammonites), sometimes occur in thin coal seams that are economical but uninteresting.

Landscape

The landscape is strongly influenced by the geology and consists of vast mountain plateaus, mesas and soft slopes in 300 to 600 m altitude. The interior of the island is covered by several ice caps, the largest of which is named Barentsjøkulen and is 570 km ². Several outlet glaciers of ice caps reach the sea and have Kalbungsfronten. However Barentsøya is less heavily glaciated as parts of Svalbard, which are situated higher and / or receive more precipitation.

Flora and Fauna

Despite the hostile conditions the island is quite diverse. There are a number of stone crushing and buttercup, Scheuchzers cotton grass and other plant species. Fungi are available in large quantities. Especially kittiwakes nest on narrow ledges of rocks, in mammals, there is the Arctic fox, the polar bear and the Svalbard reindeer.

History

Barentsøya is by Willem Barents, the official discoverer of Svalbard, named. The island was much less used as a hunting ground than most other parts of Svalbard. Only from 1894 is known to hibernate by trappers. Between 1959 and 1967 there were a number of scientific expeditions led by the Geography professor Julius Büdel.

The Southeast Svalbard Nature Reserve

Barentsøya located entirely within the Southeast Svalbard Nature Reserve. It is there any technical intervention ( construction of buildings, operation of mines, etc. ), any leave of waste, and prohibited any interference or introduction of animals and plants. In addition, the land must not be traveled by motorized vehicles. The Sysselmann can also completely block areas for visitors.