6. Svalbard - the High Arctic

Svalbard  is an archipelago of many islands, with the main island of Spitzbergen and just seven hundred miles from the North Pole. It is the home to over 3,000 polar bears and a host of birds and  land and sea mammals, including whales, walruses, arctic foxes and reindeer. This talk focuses on an expediton around Svalbard and its wildlife but also discusses the remote townships of Longyearbyen, the miniature capital of the archipelago, Ny Alesund and Pyramiden, a deserted Russian coalmining village. The area has an interesting polar history for it was on Spitzbergen that Amundsen attempted to fly an airship over the North Pole from Ny Alesund. Much of the main mountainous island of Spitzbergen is covered in snow and glaciers, and in winter is ice locked,  but in the summer the midnight sun is evident and some of the snow melts to reveal a fascinting landscape containing wonderful fauna and flora. Once attracted to the poles it is difficult not to return again and again

Duration 90 mins.