Life in a northern town
"They sat on the stony ground
And he took a cigarette out
And everyone else came down to listen
He said 'In winter 1963,
It felt like the world would freeze.'"
- "Life in a northern town" by The Dream Academy
Ny-Ålesund is the northernmost continuously-inhabited place on Earth. Some temporary ice camps are at higher latitude, but for year-round living, Ny-Ålesund wins. It has the world's northernmost post office. It is also an extremely unique place to be.
Unlike most polar research stations, which are owned and manned by a single country, Ny-Ålesund is international. The Norwegian Polar Institute has its Sverdrup Station in Ny-Ålesund, and there is a joint German-French station called AWIPEV. The Chinese have a building called Yellow River Station behind the cafeteria, and the Italian station Dirigibile Italia is near the dorms. In total, there are 16 stations representing 10 nationalities in Ny-Ålesund.
Each research station has its own director, who provides logistical support for scientists visiting from the home country and helps maintain long-term experiments or permanent installations. It's pretty common for a scientist to travel to Ny-Ålesund in the summer, set up an instrument to take measurements, and then entrust the care of the instrument to the station director for the rest of the year. A lot of the stations up here focus on atmospheric science or geophysics, which require permanent equipment for continuous measurements. Some stations have enough ongoing projects that the director is assisted by engineers, but number of permanent staff for a station is never large - 5 people or less, usually 2 or 3.
Ny-Ålesund is the only place I've ever been where early-career researchers can become directors, with all the responsibility and power that position entails. Whether young people are recruited for the positions or self-nominate, I'm not sure, but it's undeniable that young people have a much easier time living in remote polar regions. Most of the permanent staff are in their 20s or 30s. They bear a lot of responsibility and wield a large amount of power over research projects at their station. Most station directors stay for 1-3 years and then move south to continue their careers.
Another thing that makes Ny-Ålesund unique is that the town is managed by a logistics company called Kings Bay. Most polar research stations have a single institution or governmental organization in charge of the logistics, but Kings Bay is a private company that serves all the various nationalities and research stations in town. Kings Bay runs the cafeteria, the dorms, the marine lab, the flights, cargo shipments, and probably several other things I'm not aware of. Similar to the research station staff, Kings Bay employees are mostly in their 20s or 30s, and they sign 2-year contracts. The company restricts how many times a person can renew their contract, in order to ensure that employees return to the mainland and a more mainstream life.
Ny-Ålesund is a small place. Right now, there are about 30 people in town. My 4-person team is the only group of visiting researchers here right now, so it's us, the Kings Bay employees, and the station staff - that's it. There are many more visiting researchers in the spring and summer. I actually found out that a group from NASA was here in December to launch two rockets, and I'm pretty sad I missed that!
You might think that Ny-Ålesund is a lonely place because it's so remote, dark for half the year, and sparsely populated, but exactly the opposite is true. The people here know they need human interaction, so there is a strong sense of community. My first day, I met the staff of the Italian station, and today I had lunch with the AWIPEV director. The staff also enjoy putting on events like movie nights and science talks, and there is a pub upstairs from the cafeteria that opens every Saturday night. At the very least, you have to interact with other humans 3 times a day, because we all eat in the same place. There is a very strong sense of togetherness in Ny-Ålesund that I find beautiful.
The last thing I'll mention is that Ny-Ålesund is a radio-silent community. WiFi and Bluetooth are not allowed because the wireless signals interfere with important meterological equipment. Internet access is provided through ethernet cables, but there is no cell phone service. This one change gives the station an entirely different character than normal life. If you need to meet with someone, you have to set a meeting place and time and respect the agreement. If your partner is late, you wait for them. Simple. People don't have the ability to play with their phones when they are bored or impatient, so they are forced to focus on what they're doing and take meaningful breaks when needed. I find the radio silence eliminates a lot of unnecessary chatter and makes the station feel calm.
Svalbard is my absolute favorite place on Earth, and I am so glad to be back here in Ny-Ålesund!
And he took a cigarette out
And everyone else came down to listen
He said 'In winter 1963,
It felt like the world would freeze.'"
- "Life in a northern town" by The Dream Academy
Ny-Ålesund is the northernmost continuously-inhabited place on Earth. Some temporary ice camps are at higher latitude, but for year-round living, Ny-Ålesund wins. It has the world's northernmost post office. It is also an extremely unique place to be.
Unlike most polar research stations, which are owned and manned by a single country, Ny-Ålesund is international. The Norwegian Polar Institute has its Sverdrup Station in Ny-Ålesund, and there is a joint German-French station called AWIPEV. The Chinese have a building called Yellow River Station behind the cafeteria, and the Italian station Dirigibile Italia is near the dorms. In total, there are 16 stations representing 10 nationalities in Ny-Ålesund.
Each research station has its own director, who provides logistical support for scientists visiting from the home country and helps maintain long-term experiments or permanent installations. It's pretty common for a scientist to travel to Ny-Ålesund in the summer, set up an instrument to take measurements, and then entrust the care of the instrument to the station director for the rest of the year. A lot of the stations up here focus on atmospheric science or geophysics, which require permanent equipment for continuous measurements. Some stations have enough ongoing projects that the director is assisted by engineers, but number of permanent staff for a station is never large - 5 people or less, usually 2 or 3.
Ny-Ålesund is the only place I've ever been where early-career researchers can become directors, with all the responsibility and power that position entails. Whether young people are recruited for the positions or self-nominate, I'm not sure, but it's undeniable that young people have a much easier time living in remote polar regions. Most of the permanent staff are in their 20s or 30s. They bear a lot of responsibility and wield a large amount of power over research projects at their station. Most station directors stay for 1-3 years and then move south to continue their careers.
Another thing that makes Ny-Ålesund unique is that the town is managed by a logistics company called Kings Bay. Most polar research stations have a single institution or governmental organization in charge of the logistics, but Kings Bay is a private company that serves all the various nationalities and research stations in town. Kings Bay runs the cafeteria, the dorms, the marine lab, the flights, cargo shipments, and probably several other things I'm not aware of. Similar to the research station staff, Kings Bay employees are mostly in their 20s or 30s, and they sign 2-year contracts. The company restricts how many times a person can renew their contract, in order to ensure that employees return to the mainland and a more mainstream life.
Ny-Ålesund is a small place. Right now, there are about 30 people in town. My 4-person team is the only group of visiting researchers here right now, so it's us, the Kings Bay employees, and the station staff - that's it. There are many more visiting researchers in the spring and summer. I actually found out that a group from NASA was here in December to launch two rockets, and I'm pretty sad I missed that!
You might think that Ny-Ålesund is a lonely place because it's so remote, dark for half the year, and sparsely populated, but exactly the opposite is true. The people here know they need human interaction, so there is a strong sense of community. My first day, I met the staff of the Italian station, and today I had lunch with the AWIPEV director. The staff also enjoy putting on events like movie nights and science talks, and there is a pub upstairs from the cafeteria that opens every Saturday night. At the very least, you have to interact with other humans 3 times a day, because we all eat in the same place. There is a very strong sense of togetherness in Ny-Ålesund that I find beautiful.
The last thing I'll mention is that Ny-Ålesund is a radio-silent community. WiFi and Bluetooth are not allowed because the wireless signals interfere with important meterological equipment. Internet access is provided through ethernet cables, but there is no cell phone service. This one change gives the station an entirely different character than normal life. If you need to meet with someone, you have to set a meeting place and time and respect the agreement. If your partner is late, you wait for them. Simple. People don't have the ability to play with their phones when they are bored or impatient, so they are forced to focus on what they're doing and take meaningful breaks when needed. I find the radio silence eliminates a lot of unnecessary chatter and makes the station feel calm.
Svalbard is my absolute favorite place on Earth, and I am so glad to be back here in Ny-Ålesund!
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