Hornsund () is a settlement and a Polish research station located at ''Isbjørnhamna'' in the fjord with the same name, on

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

in southern

Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), previously known as Spitsbergen or Spitzbergen, is a Norway, Norwegian archipelago that lies at the convergence of the Arctic Ocean with the Atlantic Ocean. North of continental Europe, mainland Europe, it lies about midway be ...

, operated since 1957.

Station

The station was erected in July 1957 by the

Polish Academy of Sciences The Polish Academy of Sciences (, 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 distinguished scholars a ...

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

, near the entrance to

Hornsund Hornsund is a fjord on the western side of the southernmost tip of northern Norway's 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 cut ...

fjord, on its northern shore, at

Isbjørnhamna Isbjørnhamna is a bay in Wedel Jarlsberg Land at Spitsbergen, Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), previously known as Spitsbergen or Spitzbergen, is a Norway, Norwegian archipelago that lies at the convergence of the Arctic Ocean with the Atlantic Ocea ...

on a flat marine terrace, 10 m above sea level.

Research

Current full-year research: *

Meteorology Meteorology is the scientific study of the Earth's atmosphere and short-term atmospheric phenomena (i.e. weather), with a focus on weather forecasting. It has applications in the military, aviation, energy production, transport, agricultur ...

- 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 (or generally, quakes) and the generation and propagation of elastic ...

- 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 telecommunications 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, clim ...

- 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 and approaches the sea near Isbjørnhamna Isbjørnhamna is ...

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 describes the 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 electrica ...

- determining the magnitude of the Earth's electric field and recording its vertical component; *

Environmental monitoring Environmental monitoring is the processes and activities that are done to characterize and describe the state of the environment. It is used in the preparation of environmental impact assessments, and in many circumstances in which human activit ...

- 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 the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...

geodesics In geometry, a geodesic () is a curve representing in some sense the locally 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 connec ...

geomorphology Geomorphology () is the scientific study of the origin and evolution of topographic and bathymetric features generated by physical, chemical or biological processes operating at or near Earth's surface. Geomorphologists seek to understand wh ...

, glaciology,

oceanology Oceanography (), also known as oceanology, sea science, ocean science, and marine science, is the scientific study of the ocean, including its physics, chemistry, biology, and geology. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of top ...

and

biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

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

References

External links

Hornsund Polish Polar Station
{{authority control Research institutes in Poland Research stations in Svalbard Science and technology in Poland