Nordenskiöld Glacier

The Nordenskiöld glacier fills the head of Billefjorden north of Longyearbyen with a front several kilometres wide, blue-white and heavily crevassed, and boats run up to it through the summer while snowmobiles cross the fjord ice to it in spring when the ice forms. Bearded seals rest on the floes it sheds and kittiwakes work the water at the face where the calving stirs up food. Pyramiden, an abandoned Soviet settlement, sits opposite.

The landscape

• The calving front - several kilometres of ice wall at the fjord head.
• The floes and seals - bearded seals resting on the ice the glacier sheds.
• The kittiwakes - the birds feeding at the face where calving stirs the water.
• Pyramiden - the abandoned Soviet settlement across the fjord.

When to go

June to September for boats, March to May for snowmobile if the fjord has frozen. Fjord ice has become unreliable. Midnight sun runs late April to late August.

Good to know

Boats must keep well back from the front because calving generates waves. Fjord ice no longer forms reliably, which affects spring access. Weather cancels trips regularly.

Nearby

Pyramiden is across the fjord, and Longyearbyen is south.