After making Longyearbyen our home for 4 days, we are moving on to our field area, Kappe Linne. We needed to spend a few days getting field gear together and learning the basic geology and glaciology before we went out to our field area.
Longyearbyen has roughly 2000 inhabitants and is the largest settlement in the Svalbard islands. It is a quaint little town with 3 parallel main streets. One is for the pedestrians and the other two are for vehicles (we were taught that in our safety class). Svalbard is between latitudes 74 and 81 degrees North and has 60% of it's surface covered with glaciers. One of the most interesting traditions in Svalbard is to remove your shoes when you enter a building. The tradition originated because Svalbard began as a coal mining town and so it is customery to remove your shoes so you will not drag coal dust through someone's home or business. At the entrance of every home and in the UNIS academic buildings, there is a place for you to remove your shoes and either wear your stocking feet or you would slip on some comfortable shoes you have brought with you. It was very nice to be able to walk around a University building in your socks.
Shoe rack at the entrance of UNIS where you remove your street shoes,
I took a few pictures of the stores in town and the view of the homes lining the street and the view of the surounding landscape. There is even a glacier at the end of the main street which you don't find in many towns!
View of UNIS from Main Street
Glacier at the end of Main Street
The bank and post office in Longyearbyen.