Chapter 1 Svalbard

Abstract

An introduction to Svalbard is as necessary for a geoscientist as for any other student of the archipelago. The section on geographical nomenclature is illustrated by maps which are designed to locate many of the commonly used names. These and others are listed at the end of the volume where additional names used later are referred to. The regional context of Svalbard is shown in Fig. 1.1. The present-day physical environment is mentioned, but treated more fully in Chapters 21 and 22. The section on the present-day Svalbard biota is not by a specialist for specialists, but is intended to list those organisms commonly encountered in the field and of interest to most workers. The political and treaty considerations are interwoven and have sometimes left the Norwegian administration in an ambivalent position. Happily however the resources forthcoming from the petroleum industry to the nation has enabled the administration to fulfil its responsibility admirably and latterly without the pressures from the Cold War. Svalbard for its size has a small population, less than 4000 concentrated in relatively few settlements, but numbers are augmented by summer arrivals of construction/maintenance staff, tourists, students and scientists, while the residents often take their summer holidays on the mainland. The environmental threat from this expanding seasonal population presents one of the most serious challenges, while at the same time tourism is replacing coal mining as the principal economic resource. Provision of shipping facilities supplemented by air travel is transforming the economy, which however still requires substantial