Bear Island is a small piece of land in the Barents Sea. It also borders the Norwegian Sea. It is the southern part of the Svalbard archipelago. Has an area of 180 sq. km. Territorially belongs to Norway.
Hydronym
The island got its name not by chance. Until 1596, Europeans did not go far deep into the Arctic, so they did not see polar bears. The Dutch expedition, approaching the shores of a previously unknown piece of land in the Barents Sea, saw a beautiful majestic beast on the shore, which was trying to climb onto the ship. It is in honor of this animal that the island got its name - Bear.
When and who discovered Bear Island?
The Dutchmen V. Barents and Jacob van Heemskerk are the discoverers of the island. The official date of discovery of this piece of land is June 10, 1596. Until that moment, this territory was not inhabited and was practically not mentioned in the ancient records of navigators. After the discovery, the Dutch settled here and developed whaling for many years.
At the end of the 19th century, Norway, on the basis of official documents, included the archipelago in its compositionSvalbard. Bear Island (Barents Sea), as part of it, also became part of the Kingdom.
Since 2002, this territory has been declared a protected area, any hunting activities are prohibited here and are considered poaching.
About the island (briefly)
According to scientists, the island was formed 400 million years ago. It is located on the border of two seas: from the west, the shores are washed by the Norwegian Sea, and from the east by the Barents Sea. The coastline is indented, there are many shallow bays. In the southern and southeastern parts of the island, the relief rises, forming low plateaus. The highest point is Mount Urd (535 m). Bear Island on the northern outskirts is represented by a low plain, through which a large number of small rivers flow. There are many lakes and streams here. All of them are of glacial origin. The predominant natural zones are forest-tundra and tundra.
Climate
Bear Island belongs to the Arctic climate zone. The weather conditions here are unfavorable for permanent residence. The island has high relative humidity, a large amount of annual precipitation (up to 2000 mm), which falls on the ground in the form of rain, drizzle and fog. In winter, precipitation practically stops, and therefore there is no permanent snow cover here. The average temperatures in January are -18…-15 °С, in July - +10 °С.
Flora and fauna
The fauna and flora of the island are typical for the tundra. The most common types of vegetation are mosses, lichens andshrubby. Of the animals here you can meet arctic fox, bearded seal, seal. But polar bears are not so common. There are a small number of them here. In coastal waters, rivers and lakes, there are many commercial fish species.
Population
Bear Island is not permanently populated. Expeditions for a certain period of time settle here only periodically. These are mainly environmental organizations that study environmental problems, as well as workers of weather stations.
