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Longyearbyen -

Located on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, Longyearbyen is the northernmost permanent settlement in the world.

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History -

The first people to settle in Longyearbyen were whalers, who arrived in the town around 400 years ago and proceeded to hunt the bowhead whale to near extinction.

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Coal industry -

Coal miners then arrived at the beginning of the 20th century and set up shop mining the black rock from the Spitsbergen mountains. The coal industry was a pillar of the town’s economy for around 100 years.

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Tourism -

More recently, the settlement has been hit by tourism, as locals capitalize on visitors’ "it’s now or never" attitude towards seeing the disappearing Arctic ice.

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Svalbard archipelago -

The town is home to around 2,300 permanent residents and is the administrative capital of Svalbard, a group of Arctic islands located halfway between Norway and the North Pole.

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North Pole neighbors -

Amongst those who are aware of its existence, Longyearbyen is known for its residents’ extraordinary way of life: due to its proximity to the North Pole, when the sun sets in Longyearbyen on October 5 it does not rise again until March 4.

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Northern Lights -

For most of this period, the town remains in complete darkness, and visitors often choose this time of year to visit in the hopes that they will see the Northern Lights.

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Infamy -

But aside from its reputation for lifestyle quirks and natural beauty, Longyearbyen is now garnering attention for being the fastest-warming town in the world.

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Global warming -

Since 1971, temperatures in Svalbard have risen by 4°C (39.2°F), which is five times faster than the global average. In the winter, when changes are more dramatic, the temperature has risen by 7°C (44.6°F).

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Unique pressures -

Svalbard is particularly vulnerable to global warming because of pressures from both the Arctic atmosphere (which itself is warming at twice the global average) and the nearby ocean, which ushers in warm currents from the Gulf of Mexico. 

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Taking the heat -

As rising temperatures cause the snowy surface of the archipelago to melt, the land ceases to reflect and absorbs more and more of the sun’s heat.

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Rising temperatures, rising concerns -

Rising temperatures are a major cause of concern in Longyearbyen, not least because they are responsible for the deadly avalanches that threaten the town and its people.

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Avalanches -

In December 2015, the town was struck by the most devastating avalanche in its history: two people died and 11 homes were destroyed at the bottom of Sukkertoppen ("Sugar Top Mountain").

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Avalanches -

The avalanche was the result of unusually heavy winter rain, which froze and was then covered in snow. The snow could not adhere to the ice and it therefore became unstable.

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Avalanches -

Disaster struck again in February 2017, when another avalanche wiped out six housing units. Since 2018, the government has been investing in safety measures to protect its residents.

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Safety measures -

More than 500 million kroner (around US$53.7 million) has been invested in building homes in safer locations and providing protective measures such as avalanche barriers in high-risk zones.

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Evacuations -

Some residents were required to leave their homes because they were living in high-risk areas. Others must evacuate their homes on a regular basis in order to be safe from a potential onslaught.

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Changing terrain -

Another consequence of rising temperatures is that the permafrost, which covers much of the ground in Arctic regions, is melting.

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Permafrost problems -

This is problematic because permafrost has been used for centuries to provide the foundations for buildings, which are now becoming unstable as their foundations melt away.

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A new way of life -

The town has had to build new accommodation that does not rely on permafrost for secure foundations. The result is housing units built on steel piles that have been drilled down right into the mountain rock.

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A big investment -

This process was very expensive and resource-intensive—a huge amount of steel was needed to drill the foundations deep enough into the rock. The homes will now be safe for 60 years.

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No new graves -

But there's not been a fix for everything. Nowadays, it is not possible to be buried on Svalbard, because there is no suitable place to dig a grave. This was not always the case, however.

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How it was then -

For a long time, it was possible to bury someone on the archipelago, provided that the grave was dug deep enough (if not, the permafrost tended to push the corpse out of the ground).

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How it is now -

Today, however, the land is being eroded to such an extent that previously buried bodies are at risk of falling into the ocean.

This has prompted the Norwegian government to fund a program that will ensure the graves are excavated before the skeletons are lost.

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Psychological impact - Despite generally positive attitudes, the residents of Longyearbyen are no doubt struggling mentally at the hands of all this change.

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Daily worries -

Some have described feelings of worry at the impermanence of everything, saying that going to work every day invariably involves worries about being evacuated.

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A lost dream -

Others have bemoaned the lost dream of going to the North Pole, which used to be possible from Svalbard, but which is no longer so because the journey is not safe. 

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A case study -

Unsurprisingly, nowadays many academics and diplomats visit Longyearbyen to see how the town is adapting and dealing with the challenges thrown up by climate change. Indeed while not perfect, Longyearbyen has proven itself to be quite the example.

See also: These foods could help reverse climate change

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