Hornsund

Hornsund cuts into the southwestern corner of Spitsbergen and is ringed by more calving glacier fronts than any other Svalbard fjord, with the sharp peak of Hornsundtind rising above it and side bays full of ice. A Polish polar station on its northern shore, built for the 1957-58 International Geophysical Year, has run year-round since 1978. Bird cliffs at the mouth hold very large seabird colonies.

Background

The fjord runs 30 kilometres inland from a mouth 12 kilometres wide that faces west onto the Greenland Sea, with a mean depth of 90 metres and a maximal depth of 260 metres. It cuts across rock from the Precambrian in the west to the upper Mesozoic in the east, at right angles to the main regional fractures of Spitsbergen. Bays open at the mouths of mountain glacial valleys, and some appeared only early in the last century as glaciers retreated. The English explorer Jonas Poole came in 1610 and named the fjord after a reindeer antler his men brought back. The first whaling ships used it in 1613, and English whalers worked the bay until the late 1650s.

Source: Wikipedia, "Hornsund"

Highlights

• The glacier fronts - more calving faces than any other fjord in Svalbard.
• Hornsundtind - the sharp peak rising above the fjord.
• The Polish station - built for 1957-58 and run year-round since 1978.
• The seabird cliffs - the large colonies at the fjord mouth.

When to go

June to September is the open-water season. Sea ice can block the mouth into early summer. Expedition ships call as part of longer circuits.

Practical notes

There is no scheduled transport; access is by expedition ship or charter. Sea ice can prevent entry even in summer. The research station is a working facility and not a visitor site.

Nearby

South Spitsbergen National Park surrounds it, and Longyearbyen is far north.

Key facts