Svalbard: How it feels to be a climate scientist in the fastest-warming place on Earth
In the Arctic Ocean, around 400 miles from the north pole, lies the island of Svalbard.
Named after the Viking word for “cold edge”, the island lay largely undisturbed before it was used as a base for whaling in the 17th and 18th centuries and transformed into a coal-mining hub in the 20th century.
Today, the capital, Longyearbyen, is a tourist destination. Further north, an international climate research station has been set up in the former mining town of Ny-Ålesund.
Ny-Ålesund hosts research institutes from a range of countries, including China, France, Germany, India, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway and the UK.