Book contents
Climate
from Components of natural environment
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 September 2014
Summary
The climate in Sørkapp Land and throughout Spitsbergen is Arctic and marine-type. Average annual temperatures vary from –9°C to –3°C in the west of Sørkapp Land, i.e. the temperatures are quite high in relation to the latitude of almost 77°N, due to the warm West Spitsbergen Current. Average summer (July and August) temperatures are usually in the range of 3–5°C, thus they are relatively low due to the ocean's influence. Average annual precipitation totals are usually in the range of 300–500 mm. Average summer (July and August) precipitation totals are much more variable and range from 30 to 200 mm in different years. Since the beginning of the 20th century, no yearly meteorological observations have been carried out in western Sørkapp Land. Hence, the aforementioned climate characteristics were based on meteorological observations carried out at the station on Isbjørnhamna bay, which belongs to the Institute of Geophysics of the Polish Academy of Sciences (Marsz, Styszyńska 2007). The station is located north of Hornsund Fjord at a 10 km distance from the northern coast of western Sørkapp Land. The data from this station are compatible with the results of meteorological observations carried out at different locations in western Sørkapp Land during selected summer seasons in the 20th century (Ziaja 1999).
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- Transformation of the Natural Environment in Western Sorkapp Land (Spitsbergen) since the 1980s , pp. 29 - 30Publisher: Jagiellonian University PressPrint publication year: 2011