Svalbard
The Svalbard archipelago which is part of the Kingdom of Norway lies 450 kilometres north of Norway and 1000 kilometres from the North Pole between 74º and 81º North and 10º and 35º East and has a total land area of 62,400 sq km. The main islands in the group include Bjørnøya, Edgeøya, Barentsøya, Prins Karls Foreland, Kvitøya, Hopen, Nordaustlandet and the largest island, Spitsbergen.Longyearbyen which is a Norwegian town with a population of 1500 inhabitants,
is a coal mine settlement and the administrative centre for the archipelago with the only airstrip in the region available for large aircraft from Norway and abroad. Other settlements include Svea (Norwegian coal mine with a population of 200 miners who commute from Longyearbyen), Ny-Ålesund (Norwegian owned, international research community, population 30 -100 persons),
Barentsberg (Russian coal mine with a population of 1000 inhabitants) and Hornsund (Polish research station with 10 inhabitants).
There are Norwegian research stations on the islands of Hopen, Bjørnøya and Jan Mayen.
