The Grinch is back in his mean mode in the form of the latest COVID-19 varient, as Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said Tuesday “it will be a difficult Christmas holiday this year as well” while announcing a series of revived crackdowns for the next month – including limits of gathering sizes and bar hours – due to a resurgence of the virus in the country and elsewhere.
In Svalbard officials announced Tuesday that Longyearbyen School is shutting its doors to public events, due to the potential consequences of infections rather than concern about a large local outbreak.
It’s not exactly breaking news – especially since it’s from a visit in 2017 – but another stark warning about Svalbard’s future is at the top of The New York Times’ website on Monday, in the form of an essay where the photos are meant to convey a message outsiders might not grasp in words.
A negative COVID-19 test within 24 hours for all people traveling to Svalbard is in effect again due to concerns about the highly contageous Omicrom that has reached Norway and scores of other countries, Norway’s government announced Friday.
Permanent Svalbard residents can get free tests at Gardermoen Airport in Olso and in the Tromsø city center. However, self-tests are not valid for any travellers.
A secret known to few outside Svalbard is Santa’s real home is in the abandoned Mine 2B, located above his special mailbox that many of Longyearbyen’s children placed their letters in Sunday.
But a possibly even more secret citizen of the season was shared on his namesake day by a well wisher as the town celebrated the beginning of Advent in 12C cold and winds gusting to 54 km/h with the lighting of the town Christmas tree and other traditional activities.
A COVID-19 self-test distribution station in the parking lot of Longyear 78° is scheduled to be open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays starting Monday, according to The Governor of Svalbard.
A man in his mid-20s has been sentenced to 14 days probation and fined 20,000 kroner for an “incorrect explanation to the police in connection with the illegal hunting of a bearded seal in Svea in June this year,” The Governor of Svalbard announced Friday.
A blizzard with hurricane-force winds up to 126 kilometers an hour is expected to hit Longyearbyen and Nordenskiöld Land on Wednesday, with officials urging residents to secure loose objects, avoid unnecessay travel in exposed areas and exercise extreme caution if navigating at sea.
COP 26 fire collage by Jason Pramas. All images used are in the public domain
The following “wish this was satire” analysis is an Association of Alternative Media contribution by DigBoston Executive Editor Jason Pramas (original link):
Shutting down Longyearbyen’s coal power plant in 2023 was unanimously approved at the most recent meeting of the municipal council, drastically accelerating a timeline that just a few years ago envisioned operating the plant for much of its remaining lifespan (possibly into the next decade). That shrunk last year to a gradual phaseout within five years and local leaders hastened plans again in February with the proposal to shut the plant in two years.
The council approved switching to diesel temporarily when the coal plant closes, and implementing an all-renewable energy supply by 2030 – a plan many residents are questioning the economic, logistical and environmental wisdom of.
Folks fired up about proposed changes to Svalbard’s environmental regulations are planning to greet visiting agency officials with a torchlight protest that will end outside a public Q&A meeting about the changes scheduled Tuesday evening at Kulturhuset.
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URGENT PLEA – Icepeople’s website and editor need help NOW to avoid homelessness
It’s crazy enough being someone from “elsewhere” in Svalbard – help ensure this “other” at least has a home for his newspaper and himself!
There have been some moments of true desperation during our 13-year history. This is one of them.
Icepeople is again facing an immediate existential crisis due (of course) to hardships largely inflected by the pandemic. In short, 1) the website needs $22 U.S. (190 NOK) to stay online for another month and 2) the editor needs any and all help possible to avoid homelessness in the middle of polar winter (not that it’s legal here any other time of the year).
So if you appreciate Icepeople for its unique stories about Svalbard and/or critical news during these critical times, as well as its features about the more colorful aspects of life here (today’s feature about the upcoming Polarjazz festival is for the event that first drew our editor’s attention to Svalbard way back in 2008) please do whatever you can during what are admittedly incredibly harsh times for many.
Thanks as always to everyone who makes The Coolest Newspaper On Earth possible!
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Nuggets of knowledge about the north from other normal newsies
Tuesday, March 10
Scanning Electron Microscopy image of typical deep-sea (bathyal) ostracod species from the study sites. Image courtesy of The University of Hong Kong.
Meltwater pulses (MWPs) known as abrupt sea-level rise due to injection of melt water are of particular interests to scientists to investigate the interactions between climatic, oceanic and glacial systems. Eustatic sea-level rise will inevitably affect cities especially those on coastal plains of low elevation like Hong Kong. A recent study published in Quaternary Science Reviews presented evidence of abrupt sea level change between 11,300–11,000 years ago in the Arctic Ocean. During the last deglaciation, melting of large ice sheets in the Northern hemisphere had contributed to profound global sea level changes. However, even the second largest MWP-1B is not well understood. Its timing and magnitude remain actively debated due to the lack of clear evidence not only from tropical areas recording near-eustatic sea-level change, but also from high-latitude areas where the ice sheets melted. The study presented evidence of abrupt sea level change between 11,300–11,000 years ago of 40m–80m in Svalbard. High time-resolution fossil records indicate a sudden temperature rise due to the incursion of warm Atlantic waters and consequent melting of the covering ice sheets. Because of the rebound of formerly suppressed lands underneath great ice load, the sedimentary environment changed from a bathyal setting at the study sites. This is the first solid evidence of relative sea-level change of MWP-1B discovered in ice-proximal areas.