Svalbard

Map of Svalbard

Country	Svalbard (sometimes referred to as Spitsbergen)
Capital	Longyearbyen
Independence	none (territory of Norway)
Population	1,970 (July 2012 est.)
Languages	Norwegian, Russian
Location	Northern Europe, islands between the Arctic Ocean, Barents Sea, Greenland Sea, and Norwegian Sea, north of Norway
Geographic coordinates	78 00 N, 20 00 E
Map references	Arctic Region
Area	total: 62,045 sq km land: 62,045 sq km water: 0 sq km note: includes Spitsbergen and Bjornoya (Bear Island)
Area - comparative	slightly smaller than West Virginia
Land boundaries	0 km
Coastline	3,587 km
Maritime claims	territorial sea: 4 nm exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm unilaterally claimed by Norway but not recognized by Russia
Climate	arctic, tempered by warm North Atlantic Current; cool summers, cold winters; North Atlantic Current flows along west and north coasts of Spitsbergen, keeping water open and navigable most of the year
Terrain	wild, rugged mountains; much of high land ice covered; west coast clear of ice about one-half of the year; fjords along west and north coasts
Elevation extremes	lowest point: Arctic Ocean 0 m highest point: Newtontoppen 1,717 m
Natural resources	coal, iron ore, copper, zinc, phosphate, wildlife, fish
Land use	arable land: 0% permanent crops: 0% other: 100% (no trees; the only bushes are crowberry and cloudberry) (2005)
Irrigated land	NA
Natural hazards	ice floes often block the entrance to Bellsund (a transit point for coal export) on the west coast and occasionally make parts of the northeastern coast inaccessible to maritime traffic
Environment - current issues	NA
Geography - note	northernmost part of the Kingdom of Norway; consists of nine main islands; glaciers and snowfields cover 60% of the total area; Spitsbergen Island is the site of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, a seed repository established by the Global Crop Diversity Trust and the Norwegian Government