Comments on: Svalbard: an island hiding in the snow http://www.thepickards.co.uk/index.php/200809/svalbard-an-island-hiding-in-the-snow/ standards, accessibility, and ranting and general stuff by the web chemist Mon, 13 Oct 2008 15:48:01 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: Brian http://www.thepickards.co.uk/index.php/200809/svalbard-an-island-hiding-in-the-snow/#comment-38795 Brian Sun, 21 Sep 2008 10:01:37 +0000 http://www.thepickards.co.uk/?p=846#comment-38795 It's also interesting to note that it might be the saving of plantkind, well sort of. The Norwegian government recently opened a backup seed bank there dig into the side of a mountain near Longyeatbyen to store seeds from around the globe. Lets just hope the polar bears don't break in and eat them all... <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svalbard_Global_Seed_Vault" rel="nofollow">Peek at the Wikipedia entry for more details</a> It’s also interesting to note that it might be the saving of plantkind, well sort of. The Norwegian government recently opened a backup seed bank there dig into the side of a mountain near Longyeatbyen to store seeds from around the globe. Lets just hope the polar bears don’t break in and eat them all…

Peek at the Wikipedia entry for more details

]]> By: woowoowoo http://www.thepickards.co.uk/index.php/200809/svalbard-an-island-hiding-in-the-snow/#comment-38758 woowoowoo Sun, 21 Sep 2008 01:04:27 +0000 http://www.thepickards.co.uk/?p=846#comment-38758 You missed University - the world's northernmost university (my daughter spent some time there). Check out the <a href="http://www.svein-nordahl.com/webcamlyb-01.htm" rel="nofollow">webcams around Svalbard</a> - mostly in Longyearbyen, the main settlement. Also, as I understand it, Svalbard is never heavily bound by sea ice as it is in the path of a warm current which runs up the European coast from Africa. Sadly, this is one of the things that researchers on the archipelago are looking into - the weakening of this current, due to the combined effects of global warming. If the current falters, changes direction or stops, it threatens Western Europe with a dramatic cooling. Fascinating place though - there are many photos on flickr under tags like svalbard, spitsbergen, longyearbyen, barentsburg. You missed University - the world’s northernmost university (my daughter spent some time there). Check out the webcams around Svalbard - mostly in Longyearbyen, the main settlement. Also, as I understand it, Svalbard is never heavily bound by sea ice as it is in the path of a warm current which runs up the European coast from Africa. Sadly, this is one of the things that researchers on the archipelago are looking into - the weakening of this current, due to the combined effects of global warming. If the current falters, changes direction or stops, it threatens Western Europe with a dramatic cooling. Fascinating place though - there are many photos on flickr under tags like svalbard, spitsbergen, longyearbyen, barentsburg.

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