Kongsfjorden

Kongsfjorden (78.900°N x 18.697°E) is located at the northwest Spitsbergen. It is a fjord, 26 km long and 6-14 km wide. The fjord is surrounded by tundra, steep mountains and glaciers. Ny-Ålesund is the only settlement in Kongsfjorden, and coal mining was the main activity before mid 1960’s. Nowadays research is the core activity, with several international research stations.

Seabirds have been monitored in Kongsfjorden since the early 1980s. Two bird sanctuaries, Kongsfjorden and Blomstrandhamna, protect the islets in Kongsfjorden, where approximately 2500 and 800 pairs of Common eider and Barnacle geese breed. Black-legged kittiwakes and Brünnnich’s guillemots are the most numerous species in the bird cliffs, with approximately 3000 and 1000 breeding pairs. Little auk, Arctic tern, Northern fulmar, Glaucous gull, Arctic skua, Great skua, Black guillemot, Atlantic puffin, Long-tailed skua and Long-tailed duck are also regular breeders in Kongsfjorden.

Kongsfjorden has been a SEATRACK-locality since 2013. Black-legged kittiwake, common eider and glaucous gull are the three species included in SEATRACK. However, GLS studies were carried out for the first time in 2007 on Brünnich’s guillemots and barnacle geese. Black-legged kittiwakes have been instrumented since 2008, common eiders and arctic skuas since 2009, glaucous gulls, little auks and long-tailed skuas since 2010 and arctic terns since 2012.

Several Seatrack partners share this location and work on the following species:

• Børge Moe (adult glaucous gulls, common eiders, great skuas and black-legged kittiwakes)
• Oliver Chastel (black-legged kittiwakes)
• Sébastien Descamps (Brünnich’s guillemots, little auks and juvenile glaucous gulls)
• Maarten Loonen (Arctic tern)