Polish Polar Station, Hornsund ( pl, Polska Stacja Polarna, Hornsund) is at ''Isbjørnhamna'' in
Hornsund
Hornsund is a fjord on the western side of the southernmost tip of Spitsbergen island.
The fjord's mouth faces west to the Greenland Sea, and is wide. The length is , the mean depth is , and the maximal depth is . Hornsund cuts different geol ...
, on
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 ...
in the
Norwegian
Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to:
*Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe
* Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway
* Demographics of Norway
*The Norwegian language, including ...
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 ...
archipelago, operated since 1957.
Station
The station was erected in July 1957 by the
Polish Academy of Sciences
The Polish Academy of Sciences ( pl, Polska Akademia Nauk, PAN) is a Polish state-sponsored institution of higher learning. Headquartered in Warsaw, it is responsible for spearheading the development of science across the country by a society of ...
Expedition within the framework of the International Geophysical Year. The expedition was led by
Stanislaw Siedlecki, geologist, explorer and climber, a veteran of Polish Arctic expeditions in the 1930s (including the first traverse of West Spitsbergen island). A reconnaissance group searching the area for the future station site had been working in Hornsund in the previous summer, and selected the flat marine terrace in Isbjørnhamna. The research station was constructed during three summer months in 1957.
The station was modernized in 1978, in order to resume a year-round activity. Since then, the Institute of Geophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences has been responsible for organising year-round and seasonal research expeditions to the station.
Location
South
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 ...
, near the entrance to
Hornsund
Hornsund is a fjord on the western side of the southernmost tip of Spitsbergen island.
The fjord's mouth faces west to the Greenland Sea, and is wide. The length is , the mean depth is , and the maximal depth is . Hornsund cuts different geol ...
fjord, on its northern shore, at
Isbjørnhamna on a flat marine terrace, 10 m above sea level.
Research
Current full-year research:
*
Meteorology
Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not ...
- gathering data for synoptic purposes and to detect climatic changes;
*
Seismology
Seismology (; from Ancient Greek σεισμός (''seismós'') meaning "earthquake" and -λογία (''-logía'') meaning "study of") is the scientific study of earthquakes and the propagation of elastic waves through the Earth or through other ...
- monitoring of world earthquakes, measuring the seismicity of the Spitsbergen Archipelago region, and registering tremors linked to the dynamics of the Hans Glacier;
*
Geomagnetism - registering changes in the XYZ components of the Earth's magnetic field;
*
Ionospheric sounding
In telecommunication and radio science, an ionospheric sounding is a technique that provides real-time data on high-frequency ionospheric-dependent radio propagation, using a basic system consisting of a synchronized transmitter and receiver.
...
to determine the structure of the ionosphere; using riometer measurements to determine the structure and absorption coefficient of the ionosphere;
*
Glaciology
Glaciology (; ) is the scientific study of glaciers, or more generally ice and natural phenomena that involve ice.
Glaciology is an interdisciplinary Earth science that integrates geophysics, geology, physical geography, geomorphology, climato ...
- measurements of glacier dynamics (
Hansbreen Hansbreen is a glacier in Wedel Jarlsberg Land at Spitsbergen, Svalbard. It covers an area of about 64 km2 and has a length of fifteen kilometers. The glacier is located north of Hornsund
Hornsund is a fjord on the western side of the southernm ...
,
Werenskioldbreen Werenskioldbreen is a glacier in Wedel Jarlsberg Land, Svalbard, Norway. The glacier is named after Norwegian geologist and Arctic explorer Werner Werenskiold.
It is situated adjacent to the glaciers of Hansbreen and Deileggbreen, which are divi ...
), documentation of glacier recession;
*
Atmospheric electricity
Atmospheric electricity is the study of electrical charges in the Earth's atmosphere (or that of another planet). The movement of charge between the Earth's surface, the atmosphere, and the ionosphere is known as the global atmospheric electr ...
- determining the magnitude of the Earth's electric field and recording its vertical component;
*
Environmental monitoring
Environmental monitoring describes the processes and activities that need to take place to characterize and monitor the quality of the environment. Environmental monitoring is used in the preparation of environmental impact assessments, as well a ...
- recording of selected climatic features and conducting analyses of chemical buildup of air and water pollution and the isotopic content of the snow cover.
In summers and winters, the station functions as a base for research on
geology
Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ear ...
,
geodesics
In geometry, a geodesic () is a curve representing in some sense the shortest path ( arc) between two points in a surface, or more generally in a Riemannian manifold. The term also has meaning in any differentiable manifold with a connection. ...
,
geomorphology
Geomorphology (from Ancient Greek: , ', "earth"; , ', "form"; and , ', "study") is the scientific study of the origin and evolution of topographic and bathymetric features created by physical, chemical or biological processes operating at or n ...
, glaciology,
oceanology
Oceanography (), also known as oceanology and ocean science, is the scientific study of the oceans. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of topics, including ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynamic ...
and
biology
Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...
.
Time capsule
On September 17, 2017, near the station, scientific researchers buried a 60-centimeter stainless steel tube containing samples designed to tell finders as long as half a million years into the future, about the current state of knowledge in such areas as geology, biology, and technology.
Photos
Image:Polish Polar Station, Hornsund (js).jpg, view of station across Hornsund (2003)
Image:Latarnia Hornsund UWE1-1.jpg, lighthouse of station
See also
*
List of research stations in the Arctic
A number of governments maintain permanent research stations in the Arctic. Also known as Arctic bases, polar stations or ice stations, these bases are widely distributed across the northern polar region of Earth.
Historically few research st ...
References
External links
Hornsund Polish Polar Station
{{authority control
Research institutes in Poland
Research stations in Svalbard
Science and technology in Poland