News
Offer to registered participants: 30 percent discount on excursion to Svalbard
Participants registered for IPY-OSC is now offered a cruise with the coast liner MS Fram to Svalbard, from 30th May until 7th June, with a 30 percent discount. This is an exciting and exclusive opportunity to experience the High Arctic, the beauty of the nature, the fascinating natural and human history, and the current scientific activities and plattforms.
MS Fram is the newest ship in the fleet of Norwegian coast liners belonging to the shipping company Hurtigruten. From 2007 MS Fram has brought thousands of international tourists to Antarctica and to Greenland. The ship is ice class 1B, has 318 beds and is 114 meters long.
Photo: Hurtigruten
Cruising the fjords of Spitsbergen.This cruise is branded "Climate Pilgrimage 2010". It is not exclusive for IPY-OSC participants, but registered participants for will be able to attend the cruise at a special discounted rate. A scientific program will be offered to passengers on board and in each port of call.
The cruise will depart from Tromsø, Norway. Participants can board on the 29th or 30th May. First port of call will be Honningsvåg (visit to North Cape) and then MS Fram will cross over to Bjørnøya (Bear island). This isolated island is the southernmost island of the Svalbard Archipelago and has been named "the largest concentration of sea birds on the Northern Hemisphere".
Hornsund, the next port of call, is the southernmost fjord in Spitsbergen, the largest island in the Svalbard Archipelago. Hornsund have a long research history and the Polish Academy of Sciences have a field station situated here. In the Arctic spring participants can still expect ice to be found in the bottom of the fjord and should keep a sharp eye open in case the King of the Arctic, the polar bear is hunting, taking advantage of the ice platform they are so dependent upon. In Van Keulenfjord participants will observe the Finsterwald Glacier which has been closely measured by scientists since the nineteen fifties.
Ny-Ålesund - research village and company town
Situated at 78º 55' N, Ny-Ålesund is one of the world's northermost year-round communities. Coal mining was the origin for settlement here, but mining was put to an end after a serious accident in 1962, leaving behind numerous cultural remains of technical and industrial importance. Ny-Ålesund has also been the starting point of several historical attempts to reach the North Pole. Names like Amundsen, Ellsworth and Nobile are strongly linked to Ny-Ålesund.
Today, Ny Ålesund is an extremely important campus for scientists from leading institutes such as Alfred Wegener Institute and Norwegian Polar Institute. In 2005, a state of the art marine laboratory was opened to facilitate for the fieldwork of marine biologists and oceanographers - this is the most sophisticated marine laboratory in the world at this latitude. Kongsfjorden, in which Ny Ålesund is situated, can show a large glacier front and passengers will also explore several subsidiary arms.
Dependent on ice conditions the ship will make a try to cross the 80th parallel. On the way south the expedition will search for a fitting bay in Isfjorden where passengers can enjoy a last landing and then wrap up with festivities and Polar Barbeque on deck of MV Fram. The cruise will end in Longyearbyen.
The arrival in Longyearbyen on the 7th is timed to allow participants to fly to Oslo and arrive there in time for the icebreaker party.
Book your Climate Pilgrimage excursion with MS Fram here
Last updated: 02.03.2010
Tip a friend
Print view