Arctic Tipping Points

The Hopen Radio station, seen from the steep mountainside. Note the helicopter landing platform and arnge of houses and huts. Remark also the ice floes in the littoral zone.

Hopen is an island in the southeastern part of the Svalbard archipelago. Hopen was discovered in 1613, probably by Thomas Marmaduke of Hull, who named it after his former command, the Hopewell. Hopen is a mountainous and rather characteristic island: long stretched, steep flanks and flat on top. There are neither lakes nor streams, implying that the traditional freshwater fishing that is so popular on another island with a meteorological station in the Barents Sea, Bear Island. It is the home for a multitude of bird colonies, migrating Polar Bears and four dogs.

The Norwegian Meteorological Institute operates a manned weather station on the island with a staff of four persons, four dogs and four rifles. For the welfare of the crew, there are three cabins available on the island for their use. During World War II, the Luftwaffe placed a meteorological team there under cover of Operation Sizilien which was the German raid and temporary occupation of Spitsbergen on 6–9 September 1943. British, Canadian and Free Norwegian troops occupied Spitsbergen to deny German use of the islands and their rich coal deposits and to set up weather stations. Under cover of the attack, the Luftwaffe installed a weather station on Hopen Island, which survived through the winter, until weather conditions allowed Allied reaction.

The beach outside Hopen Radio. It was not easy to cross the ice floes. Note the rubber boat that had to be moved unot the ice. Photo: R. Caeyers.

Today a crew of four volunteers operate the station for periods of 6 months. They follow normal meteorological routines, run a radio station and have a refuelling station for rescue helicopter from Longyearbyen. This crew lives more or less isolated for most of the year with a few visiting ships or helicopter visits of the governor of Spitsbergen. We visited the station, using a rubber boat in the shallow and difficult waters that surround the island.

We brought with us the expeditions photographer and the Spanish TV team. Already on the beach we were cordially welcomed by the station chief and one his colleagues. To land on the beach was challenging, as a belt of ice floes was still on the beach and we hade to walk and balance over them to reach firm ground. Inside the station we were served coffee and cake, while enjoying the view, the snow sparrows and a nearby Kittiwake colony.

Still life: inside & outside. Photo: R. Cayers.

The TV team interviewed the personnel, were given a tour of the station and the sights. In particular the sauna attained a lot of attention. We were greeted by the Huskies who are indispensable during the time the island is enclosed by ice.

There are about 100 Polar Bears a year that visit the station. While some bears hang around on the ice all winter, most of them hibernate on islands towards the north and make a migration with the dice drift of the close to freezing point East Spitsbergen Current towards the hospitable feeding grounds in the south. Nobody can leave the house without their rifles and flare guns. In former times when hunting of Polar Bears was still permitted the station personnel was paid only a small salary while a substantial part of the income came from hunting, including Polar Bears. The impressive skin of such bear that was shot during those times decorated the wall of the station. It was one of the largest Polar Bears ever shot on Spitsbergen.

Back on board the TV team worked feverishly to produce a 2-minute movie for their TV channel in Madrid and CNN for South America. Indeed information about one of the most isolated and specific places in the High Arctic will be presented for a Spanish-speaking public!

The leader of Hopen Radio station with one of the dogs that watch out for the frequent visits of Polar bears. Photo: R. Cayers.