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, 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 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. 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