Tag Archives: The University Centre in Svalbard
EXTRA COVID-19 PRECAUTIONS EXTENDED: Digital teaching at UNIS until Feb. 1, norway to test all newcomers at border, recent restrictions ‘will most probably be extended’
Photo by Ashton Fantastic
A sign of the extended COVID-19 restrictions likely to occur in the coming days came this week as The University Centre in Svalbard announced it all-digital teaching will continue until at least Feb. 1, with Norway also toughening it entry requirements and advising against foreign travel until at least March.
UNIS REOPENING – FOR THOSE WILLING TO PUT IN THE LONG HOURS: University says semester-long classes will resume in January, but shorter master/PhD courses cancelled
The University Centre in Svalbard is planning to resume classes in January despite a resurgence in COVID-19 cases across Europe and elsewhere, but only semester-long classes will be offered due to complications presented by quarantine requirements for arriving students and precautionary requirements during field work, the university announced in a press release Tuesday.
ASK THEM ANYTHING: FAQs for Svalbard science pros at forum include oldest rock, next ice age, microplastics, nuclear waste storage, zombie apocalypse
When it comes to popular Svalbard topics like climate change and zombies, there’s unquestionably a lot of non-expert nonsense out there.
Briefs from Svalbardposten for the week of Nov. 26, 2019
Airbnb rentals are down somewhat this year as a new law restricting rentals takes effect in about a month, a dog has to be killed after being injured by a polar bear at the Polish Polar Station at Hornsund and The University Centre in Svalbard finally has a list of 18 candidates to be the next director after the deadline is delayed twice.
FIERCE FALL: Yet more cabins ransacked by polar bear, field research cancelled near Longyearbyen due to bear visits
A trend of late summer/early fall visits by polar bears near Longyearbyen is continuing in great numbers this year as the latest of many visits and intrusions into cabins was reported the past weekend and all field research in valleys near town was cancelled indefinitely Monday due to multiple recent bear visits.
Svalbard warms 4°C during past 50 years, may warm a total of 10°C by 2100, states ‘devastating’ landmark climate study
Svalbard is already 4°C warmer (7.3°C during winter) than 50 years ago with devastating and fatal consequences, and will be a total of 7°C to 10°C warmer by 2100 without drastic action.
Winter is two months shorter than 50 years and will be two months shorter by 2100. Precipitation (mostly rain, obviously) will increase 45 percent to 65 percent, and the number of already extreme storms of late will increase significantly and magnitude.
Briefs from Svalbardposten for the week of Oct. 23, 2018
UNIS student housing proposal features 250 dorms, 30 hotel rooms, solar panels
A total of 250 dorms and 30 hotel rooms are included in the latest proposed student housing project for The University Centre in Svalbard.
Off the radar: Storm damages 30-antenna SuperDARN ionosphere mapping installation, repairs likely won’t occur until next summer
A state-of-the-art installation on a mountainside near Longyearbyen that collects ionosphere data suffered severe damage due to stormy weather Tuesday morning and will likely be inoperative until at least next summer, according to officials at The University Centre in Svalbard.
Steal-A-Meal: Living on ‘stolen’ bread crusts, cheese and waffles? It’s possible. Here’s the next-best legal thing
A week’s worth of thick-cut oats and raisins: 33 kroner. A week’s worth of tomato/pasta soup and bread: 32 kroner. A week’s worth of spaghetti, jars of marinara and pesto sauce, and brussels sprouts hey, they’re now haute cuisine when they’re roasted): 51 kroner.
Or, if that’s too extravagant, just buy one of those five-kilogram bags of jasmine rice for 40 kroner and indulge in a healthy third-world diet for a month.
And if even that is too profligate, there’s always the crusts and other stray pieces of fresh bread people leave behind in the slicer.
Holiday plans cancelled: Po Lin Lee loses planned hotel site in addition to giant Santa’s mailbox due to faulty paperwork
To use an analogy apt for Po Lin Lee: If you mail a wish list to Santa you might not get everything on it, but if you don’t mail it you definitely won’t get anything.
A failure to send proverbial wish lists is now costing the Hong Kong native more than her gigantic Santa’s mailbox that’s facing imminent removal, as she is now being denied previous approval to build a hotel at Elvesletta. Her company Svalbard International received a permit to build the hotel in 2014 that was valid until mid-December of 2015, but property owner Store Norske now plans to offer the site to another entity.
