Warmest Svalbard summer ever
Three years in a row experts register record high temperatures on the archipelago, with August being unusually warm.
This summer on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard has been the third consecutive warmest summer on record, meteorologist Daan van den Broek reported on his website.
After analyzing data from the Norwegian climate research service klimaservicesenter.no, he concluded that August 2024 will be the warmest month ever recorded in the Norwegian town of Longyearbyen on Svalbard at 78°N in the Arctic, reaching an average temperature of 11°C (+-0.1°C).
“This surpasses even July’s records by a large margin, while July is historically the warmest month,” – Daan van den Broek reported and added that the summer of 2024 has also been unusually wet in Longyearbyen:
“July specifically stood out with almost 50 mm, more than twice as much as usual (49 mm vs. a climatological norm of 20 mm)”. )
Such high temperatures lead to the much stronger melting of glaciers which gradually could lead to their disappearance in the future, experts highlight. For example, the recent NASA satellite images show that Svalbard has been melting five times faster than normal. Such changes could become a serious challenge for the arctic wildlife. “Svalbard is a hotspot for Arctic warming”, – Jemma Wadham, Professor in Glaciology at Arctic University of Norway (UiT) told The Barents Observer.
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Kongsfjorden, Svalbard. Photo: Thomas Nilsen -
The front of the tidewater glacier in Magdalenefjorden, north on Spitsbergen, Svalbard. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
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Smeerenburgfjorden, Svalbard. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
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Kongsfjorden, Svalbard. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
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Walros on the beach in Smeerenburg, Amsterdam Island, Svalbard. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
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Glacier in the inner part of Magdalenefjorden, Svalbard. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
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Arctic Ocean north of Spitsbergen, Svalbard. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
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Smeerenburgfjorden, Svalbard. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
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Arctic fox. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
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Nordenskiöld Glacier, Billefjorden, Svalbard. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
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Walros, Amsterdam Island, Svalbard. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
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Kongsfjorden, Svalbard. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
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The Governor’s cabin at Gravneset, Magdalenefjorden, is one of the northernmost buildings in the world. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
Located in Kirkenes, Norway, just a few kilometres from the borders to Russia and Finland, the Barents Observer is dedicated to cross-border journalism in Scandinavia, Russia and the wider Arctic.
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