The Longyear Valley ( no, Longyeardalen) is a valley and

ravine A ravine is a landform that is narrower than a canyon and is often the product of streambank erosion.Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), also known as Spitsbergen, or Spitzbergen, is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. North of mainland Europe, it is about midway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole. The islands of the group range ...

. It slightly winds WNW ending in

Adventfjorden Adventfjorden (Advent Bay) is a 7 km long and 4 km wide bay running south-eastwards from the southern side of Isfjorden, on the west coast of Spitsbergen in Svalbard. The name represents a corruption of ''Adventure Bay'' - probably name ...

, facing west, the broadest inlet of

Spitsbergen Spitsbergen (; formerly known as West Spitsbergen; Norwegian: ''Vest Spitsbergen'' or ''Vestspitsbergen'' , also sometimes spelled Spitzbergen) is the largest and the only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in northern Norw ...

, the main landmass. It has a few

wind gap A wind gap (or air gap) is a gap through which a waterway once flowed that is now dry as a result of stream capture. A water gap is a similar feature, but one in which a waterway still flows. Water gaps and wind gaps often provide routes which ...

s to the south and north-east over small glaciers, under which small streams form. It is between mountains

Platåberget Platåberget is a mountain in Nordenskiöld Land on the island of Spitsbergen in Svalbard, Norway. It is tall and has a distinct plateau shape, for which it is named. It is bordered to the west by Bjørndalen, to the east by Blomsterdalen and ...

and Gruvefjellet. The town of

Longyearbyen Longyearbyen (, locally �lɔ̀ŋjɑrˌbyːən "The Longyear Town") is the world's northernmost settlement with a population greater than 1,000 and the largest inhabited area of Svalbard, Norway. It stretches along the foot of the left bank ...

is at its foot, which is named for the American industrialist

John Munroe Longyear John Munro Longyear, Sr. (April 15, 1850 – May 28, 1922) was an American businessman and noted developer of timber and mineral lands in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan who became the central figure behind the Arctic Coal Company, which surve ...

. The

Longyear River The Longyear River ( no, Longyearelva) is a river which runs through the Longyear Valley, passing through the town of Longyearbyen and draining into Adventfjorden on the island of Spitsbergen in Svalbard, Norway Norway, officially the ...

is, like all the island's rivers, silted from surrounding glaciers.

References

Longyearbyen Valleys of Spitsbergen {{Spitsbergen-geo-stub