Svalbard Geography Profile 2007

Location

Northern Europe, islands between the Arctic Ocean, Barents Sea, Greenland Sea, and Norwegian Sea, north of Norway

Geographic coordinates

78 00 N, 20 00 E

Map references

Arctic Region

Area

total: 61,020 sq km
land: 61,020 sq km
water: 0 sq km
note: includes Spitsbergen and Bjornoya (Bear Island)

Area - comparative

slightly smaller than West Virginia

Land boundaries

0 km

Coastline

3,587 km

Maritime claims

territorial sea: 4 nm
exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm unilaterally claimed by Norway but not recognized by Russia

Climate

arctic, tempered by warm North Atlantic Current; cool summers, cold winters; North Atlantic Current flows along west and north coasts of Spitsbergen, keeping water open and navigable most of the year

Terrain

wild, rugged mountains; much of high land ice covered; west coast clear of ice about one-half of the year; fjords along west and north coasts

Elevation extremes

lowest point: Arctic Ocean 0 m
highest point: Newtontoppen 1,717 m

Natural resources

coal, iron ore, copper, zinc, phosphate, wildlife, fish

Land use

arable land: 0%
permanent crops: 0%
other: 100% (no trees; the only bushes are crowberry and cloudberry) (2005)

Irrigated land

NA

Natural hazards

ice floes often block the entrance to Bellsund (a transit point for coal export) on the west coast and occasionally make parts of the northeastern coast inaccessible to maritime traffic

Environment - current issues

NA

Geography - note

northernmost part of the Kingdom of Norway; consists of nine main islands; glaciers and snowfields cover 60% of the total area; site of future seed repository under construction by the Global Crop Diversity Trust and the Norwegian Government