Ny-Alesund (Spitsbergen, Arctic Norway)

Ny-Alesund is a port town (research station) on Oscar II Land (Spitsbergen Island, Svalbard Norway). It is located on Brogger Peninsula, at Kongsfjorden Bay. The town is owned by Kings Bay (Norwegian government company) providing the facilities for permanent research works. Ny-Ålesund has a permanent population of around 40 (during summer reaching 120). The list of facilities includes Ny-Ålesund Airport, Svalbard Rocket Range (aka SvalRak - sounding rockets launch site), cruise port (cargo ship port), Ny-Alesund Town, Mine Museum (former storage building), plus 15 research stations.

Ny-Alesund is world's northernmost civilian settlement. It was founded in 1917 by the Kings Bay mining company. Mining operations were carried out until 1929. There were several North Pole expeditions by air launched from Ny-Alesund. Kings Bay was nationalized in 1933 and the town was as tourist destination and fishing port. Coal mining operations resumed in 1941 and again in 1945 untill 1962. In 1967 the Kongsfjord Telemetry Station opened and Ny-Alesund gradually transformed into a research settlement.

Svalbard Archipelago has all three islands - Spitsbergen (largest), Nordaustlandet and Edgeoya. It is located north of the Arctic Circle, about midway between mainland Europe (Norway) and the North Pole. Svalbard cruises are among the Norway's most popular ship travel destinations - together with Norwegian Fjords (along the country's coastline). In Svalbard, tourism have become an important industry, heavily supported (popularized) by "University Centre in Svalbard" and "Svalbard Global Seed Vault".

Svalbard islands were first used as whaling bases (17th and 18th centuries), then were abandoned. At the beginning of the 20th century started coal mining operations, and several permanent settlements were established. In 1925, Svalbard was officially incorporated into the Kingdom of Norway. Today, Norway's Store Norske and Russia's Arktikugol are the only mining companies there. Instead of roads, the only transportation between the settlements is via aircrafts, boats and snowmobiles. Svalbard Airport (at Longyearbyen) serves as main gateway.

The list of Svalbard settlements (all located on the Spitsbergen island) include Longyearbyen (main and largest), Barentsburg (Russian mining community), Ny-Ålesund (research station) and Sveagruva (aka Svea, Norwegian mining community). Svalbard is the world's northernmost settlement with a permanent civilian population. There are other settlements farther north, but they are all populated by rotating groups of researchers.