Human impact on tundra environment at the Ny-Ålesund Station, Svalbard
Studies were performed in Ny-Alesund, Spitsbergen, in June and July 1986 in order to gain an insight into the effect of activities of the polar research station on the nearby environment. It was found that chemical and mechanical factors were the most detrimental to the tundra environment. Fuel oil...
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Norwegian Polar Institute
1989
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ftjpolarres:oai:journals.openacademia.net:article/2408 2023-05-15T17:48:27+02:00 Human impact on tundra environment at the Ny-Ålesund Station, Svalbard Jadwiga Krzyszowska, Anna 1989-01-12 application/pdf https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/2408 https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v7i2.6836 eng eng Norwegian Polar Institute https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/2408/5658 https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/2408 doi:10.3402/polar.v7i2.6836 Copyright (c) 2018 Polar Research Polar Research; Vol. 7 No. 2 (1989); 119-131 1751-8369 info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 1989 ftjpolarres https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v7i2.6836 2021-11-11T19:12:32Z Studies were performed in Ny-Alesund, Spitsbergen, in June and July 1986 in order to gain an insight into the effect of activities of the polar research station on the nearby environment. It was found that chemical and mechanical factors were the most detrimental to the tundra environment. Fuel oil spills (110 m3 in 1986), which spread via surface and ground waters, were the most damaging of the chemical factors. Domestic sewage polluted the waters of Kolhamna Bay within an area of only 0.5 ha around its outlet in the sea. Vehicles and trampling caused mechanical damage inducing destruction of plant cover and changes in the ground structure; it modified ground moisture, bulk density and depth to the permafrost. The area degraded by human activity in the vicinity of the Ny-Alesund Research Station comprised 45 ha. The human impact around the polar station could be lessened by providing an alarm system to detect leaks and safety embankments around the oil tanks and pipelines, utilizing a settling tank for sewage, providing a simple incinerator for solid wastes, and instructing the inhabitants how to minimise impact on the environment. Article in Journal/Newspaper Ny Ålesund Ny-Ålesund permafrost Polar Research Svalbard Tundra Spitsbergen Polar Research (E-Journal) Svalbard Ny-Ålesund Kolhamna ENVELOPE(11.922,11.922,78.932,78.932) Polar Research 7 2 119 131 |
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Open Polar |
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Polar Research (E-Journal) |
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ftjpolarres |
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English |
description |
Studies were performed in Ny-Alesund, Spitsbergen, in June and July 1986 in order to gain an insight into the effect of activities of the polar research station on the nearby environment. It was found that chemical and mechanical factors were the most detrimental to the tundra environment. Fuel oil spills (110 m3 in 1986), which spread via surface and ground waters, were the most damaging of the chemical factors. Domestic sewage polluted the waters of Kolhamna Bay within an area of only 0.5 ha around its outlet in the sea. Vehicles and trampling caused mechanical damage inducing destruction of plant cover and changes in the ground structure; it modified ground moisture, bulk density and depth to the permafrost. The area degraded by human activity in the vicinity of the Ny-Alesund Research Station comprised 45 ha. The human impact around the polar station could be lessened by providing an alarm system to detect leaks and safety embankments around the oil tanks and pipelines, utilizing a settling tank for sewage, providing a simple incinerator for solid wastes, and instructing the inhabitants how to minimise impact on the environment. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Jadwiga Krzyszowska, Anna |
spellingShingle |
Jadwiga Krzyszowska, Anna Human impact on tundra environment at the Ny-Ålesund Station, Svalbard |
author_facet |
Jadwiga Krzyszowska, Anna |
author_sort |
Jadwiga Krzyszowska, Anna |
title |
Human impact on tundra environment at the Ny-Ålesund Station, Svalbard |
title_short |
Human impact on tundra environment at the Ny-Ålesund Station, Svalbard |
title_full |
Human impact on tundra environment at the Ny-Ålesund Station, Svalbard |
title_fullStr |
Human impact on tundra environment at the Ny-Ålesund Station, Svalbard |
title_full_unstemmed |
Human impact on tundra environment at the Ny-Ålesund Station, Svalbard |
title_sort |
human impact on tundra environment at the ny-ålesund station, svalbard |
publisher |
Norwegian Polar Institute |
publishDate |
1989 |
url |
https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/2408 https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v7i2.6836 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(11.922,11.922,78.932,78.932) |
geographic |
Svalbard Ny-Ålesund Kolhamna |
geographic_facet |
Svalbard Ny-Ålesund Kolhamna |
genre |
Ny Ålesund Ny-Ålesund permafrost Polar Research Svalbard Tundra Spitsbergen |
genre_facet |
Ny Ålesund Ny-Ålesund permafrost Polar Research Svalbard Tundra Spitsbergen |
op_source |
Polar Research; Vol. 7 No. 2 (1989); 119-131 1751-8369 |
op_relation |
https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/2408/5658 https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/2408 doi:10.3402/polar.v7i2.6836 |
op_rights |
Copyright (c) 2018 Polar Research |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v7i2.6836 |
container_title |
Polar Research |
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7 |
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2 |
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119 |
op_container_end_page |
131 |
_version_ |
1766154536125202432 |