text: svalbard svalbard ( norwegian pronunciation : [ ( ː ) ] ; formerly known by its dutch name spitsbergen ) is a norwegian archipelago in the arctic ocean . situated north of mainland europe , it is about midway between continental norway and the north pole . the islands of the group range from 74 ° to 81 ° north latitude , and from 10 ° to 35 ° east longitude . the largest island is spitsbergen , followed by nordaustlandet and edgeøya . administratively , the archipelago is not part of any norwegian county , but forms an unincorporated area administered by a governor appointed by the norwegian government . since 2002 , svalbard 's main settlement , longyearbyen , has had an elected local government , somewhat similar to mainland municipalities . other settlements include the russian mining community of barentsburg , the research station of ny - ålesund , and the mining outpost of sveagruva . svalbard is the northernmost settlement in the world with a permanent civilian population . other settlements are farther north , but are populated only by rotating groups of researchers ; e.g. alert , nunavut — the northernmost year - round community . the islands were first taken into use as a whaling base in the 17th and 18th centuries , after which they were abandoned . coal mining started at the beginning of the 20th century , and several permanent communities were established . the svalbard treaty of 1920 recognizes norwegian sovereignty , and the 1925 svalbard act made svalbard a full part of the kingdom of norway . they also established svalbard as a free economic zone and a demilitarized zone . the norwegian store norske and the russian arktikugol remain the only mining companies in place . research and tourism have become important supplementary industries , with the university centre in svalbard ( unis ) and the svalbard global seed vault playing critical roles . no roads connect the settlements ; instead snowmobiles , aircraft and boats serve inter - community transport . svalbard airport , longyear serves as the main gateway . the archipelago features an arctic climate , although with significantly higher temperatures than other areas at the same latitude . the flora take advantage of the long period of midnight sun to compensate for the polar night . svalbard is a breeding ground for many seabirds , and also features polar bears , reindeer , the arctic fox , and certain marine mammals . seven national parks and twenty - three nature reserves cover two - thirds of the archipelago , protecting the largely untouched , yet fragile , natural environment . approximately 60 % of the archipelago is covered with glaciers , and the islands feature many mountains and fjords . svalbard and jan mayen are collectively assigned the iso 3166 - 1 alpha - 2 country code " sj " . both areas are administered by norway , though they are separated by a distance of over 500 nautical miles ( approximately 600 miles or 950 kilometres ) and have very different administrative structures . geography the svalbard treaty of 1920 defines svalbard as all islands , islets and skerries from 74 ° to 81 ° north latitude , and from 10 ° to 35 ° east longitude . the land area is 61 , 022 km2 ( 23 , 561 sq mi ) , and dominated by the island of spitsbergen , which constitutes more than half the archipelago , followed by nordaustlandet and edgeøya . all settlements are located on spitsbergen , except the meteorological outposts on bjørnøya and hopen . the norwegian state took possession of all unclaimed land , or 95 . 2 % of the archipelago , at the time the svalbard treaty entered into force ; store norske owns 4 % , arktikugol owns 0 . 4 % , while other private owners hold 0 . 4 % . since svalbard is located north of the arctic circle it experiences midnight sun in summer and polar night in winter . at 74 ° north , the midnight sun lasts 99 days and polar night 84 days , while the respective figures at 81 ° are 141 and 128 days . in longyearbyen , midnight sun lasts from 20 april until 23 august , and polar night lasts from 26 october to 15 february . in winter , the combination of full moon and reflective snow can give additional light . glacial ice covers 36 , 502 km2 ( 14 , 094 sq mi ) or 60 % of svalbard ; 30 % is barren rock while 10 % is vegetated . the largest glacier is ( 8 , 412 km2 or 3 , 248 sq mi ) on nordaustlandet , followed by olav v land and . during summer , it is possible to ski from in the south to the north of spitsbergen , with only a short distance not being covered by snow or glacier . kvitøya is 99 . 3 % covered by glacier . the landforms of svalbard were created through repeated ice ages , when glaciers cut the former plateau into fjords , valleys and mountains . the tallest peak is ( 1 , 717 m or 5 , 633 ft ) , followed by ( 1 , 712 m or 5 , 617 ft ) , ( 1 , 675 m or 5 , 495 ft ) , ( 1 , 640 m or 5 , 380 ft ) and ( 1 , 637 m or 5 , 371 ft ) . the longest fjord is wijdefjorden ( 108 km or 67 mi ) , followed by isfjorden ( 107 km or 66 mi ) , van ( 83 km or 52 mi ) , ( 64 km or 40 mi ) and ( 46 km or 29 mi ) . svalbard is part of the high arctic large igneous province , and experienced norway 's strongest earthquake on 6 march 2009 , which hit 6 . 5 on the richter scale . history scandinavians may have discovered svalbard as early as the 12th century . there are traditional norse accounts of a land known as — literally " cold shores " — although this may have referred to jan mayen , or a part of eastern greenland . it was then thought both svalbard and greenland were connected to continental europe . the archipelago may in that period have been used for fishing and hunting . the dutchman willem barentsz made the first indisputable discovery of the archipelago in 1596 , when he sighted its coast while searching for the northern sea route . the name spitsbergen originated with barentsz , who described the " pointed mountains " he saw on the west coast of the main island , although his 1599 map of the arctic labels the island as het niewe land ( " the new land " ) . barentsz did not recognize that he had discovered an archipelago , and consequently the name spitsbergen long remained in use both for the main island and for the archipelago as a whole . the first known landing on the island dates to 1604 , when an english ship landed at bjørnøya and started hunting walrus ; annual expeditions soon followed , and spitsbergen became a base for hunting the bowhead whale from 1611 . because of the lawless nature of the area , english , danish , dutch , and french companies and authorities tried to use force to keep out other countries ' fleets . was one of the first settlements , established by the dutch in 1619 . smaller bases were also built by the english , danish and french . at first the outposts were merely summer camps , but from the early 1630s , a few individuals started to overwinter . whaling at spitsbergen lasted until the 1820s , when the dutch , british and danish whalers moved elsewhere in the arctic . by the late 17th century , russian hunters arrived ; they overwintered to a greater extent and hunted land mammals such as the polar bear and fox . after british raids into the barents sea in 1809 , russian activity on svalbard diminished , and ceased by the 1820s . norwegian hunting — mostly for walrus — started in the 1790s . the first norwegian citizens to reach spitsbergen proper were a number of coast sámi people from the hammerfest region , who were hired as part of a russian crew for an expedition in 1795 . norwegian whaling was abandoned about the same time as the russians left , but whaling continued around spitsbergen until the 1830s , and around bjørnøya until the 1860s . 20th century by the 1890s , svalbard had become a destination for arctic tourism , coal deposits had been found and the islands were being used as a base for arctic exploration . the first mining was along isfjorden by norwegians in 1899 ; by 1904 , british interests had established themselves in adventfjorden and started the first all - year operations . production in longyearbyen , by american interests , started in 1908 ; and store norske established itself in 1916 , as did other norwegian interests during the war , in part by buying american interests . discussions to establish the sovereignty of the archipelago commenced in the 1910s , but were interrupted by world war i. on 9 february 1920 , following the paris peace conference , the svalbard treaty was signed , granting full sovereignty to norway . however , all signatory countries were granted non - discriminatory rights to fishing , hunting and mineral resources . the treaty took effect on 14 august 1925 , at the same time as the svalbard act regulated the archipelago and the first governor , johannes , took office . the archipelago has traditionally been known as spitsbergen , and the main island as west spitsbergen . from the 1920s , norway renamed the archipelago svalbard , and the main island became spitsbergen . kvitøya , kong karls land , hopen and bjørnøya were not regarded as part of the spitsbergen archipelago . russians have traditionally called the archipelago grumant ( ) . the soviet union retained the name spitsbergen ( ) to support undocumented claims that russians were the first to discover the island . in 1928 , italian explorer umberto nobile and the crew of the airship italia crashed on the off the coast of foyn island . the subsequent rescue attempts were covered extensively in the press and svalbard received short - lived fame as a result . second world war in 1941 , operation gauntlet , all norwegian and soviet settlements on svalbard were evacuated , and a german presence was established with a meteorological outpost , although a small norwegian garrison was kept on spitsbergen . the german operation zitronella took this garrison by force in 1943 , and at the same time destroying the settlements at longyearbyen and barentsburg . in september 1944 , together with the supply ship carl j. busch , the submarine u - 307 transported the men of operation to svalbard . operation ( i.e. , swashbuckler ) was the name of a german operation during the second world war to establish meteorological stations on svalbard . the station was active from 9 september 1944 to 4 september 1945 . it lost radio contact in may 1945 , and the soldiers were capable of asking for support only in august 1945 . on 4 september 1945 , the soldiers were picked up by a norwegian seal hunting vessel and surrendered to its captain . this group of men were the last german troops to surrender after the second world war . after the war , the soviet union proposed common norwegian and soviet administration and military defence of svalbard . this was rejected in 1947 by norway , which two years later joined nato . the soviet union retained high civilian activity on svalbard , in part to ensure that the archipelago was not used by nato . post - war after the war , norway re - established operations at longyearbyen and ny - ålesund , while the soviet union established mining in barentsburg , pyramiden and grumant . the mine at ny - ålesund had several fatal accidents , killing 71 people while it was in operation from 1945 to 1954 and from 1960 to 1963 . the kings bay affair , caused by the 1962 accident killing 21 workers , forced gerhardsen 's third cabinet to resign . from 1964 , ny - ålesund became a research outpost , and a facility for the european space research organisation . petroleum test drilling was started in 1963 and continued until 1984 , but no commercially viable fields were found . from 1960 , regular charter flights were made from the mainland to a field at hotellneset ; in 1975 , svalbard airport , longyear opened , allowing year - round services . during the cold war , the soviet union retained about two - thirds of the population on the islands ( with a third being norwegians ) with the archipelago 's population slightly under 4 , 000 . russian activity has diminished considerably since then , falling from 2 , 500 to 450 people from 1990 to 2010 . grumant was closed after it was depleted in 1962 . pyramiden was closed in 1998 . coal exports from barentsburg ceased in 2006 because of a fire , but resumed in 2010 . the russian community has also experienced two air accidents , vnukovo airlines flight 2801 , which killed 141 people , and the helicopter accident . longyearbyen remained purely a company town until 1989 when utilities , culture and education was separated into svalbard samfunnsdrift . in 1993 it was sold to the national government and the university centre was established . through the 1990s , tourism increased and the town developed an economy independent of store norske and the mining . longyearbyen was incorporated on 1 january 2002 , receiving a community council . population demographics in 2012 , svalbard had an estimated population of 2 , 642 , of whom 439 were russians and ukrainian , 10 were polish and 322 were other non - norwegians living in norwegian settlements . the largest non - norwegian groups in longyearbyen in 2005 were from thailand , sweden , denmark , russia , iran and germany . settlements longyearbyen is the largest settlement on the archipelago , the seat of the governor and the only town to be incorporated . the town features a hospital , primary and secondary school , university , sports center with a swimming pool , library , culture center , cinema , bus transport , hotels , a bank , and several museums . the newspaper svalbardposten is published weekly . only a small fraction of the mining activity remains at longyearbyen ; instead , workers commute to sveagruva ( or svea ) where store norske operates a mine . sveagruva is a dormitory town , with workers commuting from longyearbyen weekly . ny - ålesund is a permanent settlement based entirely around research . formerly a mining town , it is still a company town operated by the norwegian state - owned kings bay . while there is some tourism there , norwegian authorities limit access to the outpost to minimize impact on the scientific work . ny - ålesund has a winter population of 35 and a summer population of 180 . the norwegian meteorological institute has outposts at bjørnøya and hopen , with respectively ten and four people stationed . both outposts can also house temporary research staff . poland operates the polish polar station at , with ten permanent residents . barentsburg is the only permanently inhabited russian settlement after pyramiden was abandoned in 1998 . it is a company town : all facilities are owned by arktikugol , which operates a coal mine . in addition to the mining facilities , arktikugol has opened a hotel and souvenir shop , catering for tourists taking day trips or hikes from longyearbyen . the village features facilities such as a school , library , sports center , community center , swimming pool , farm and greenhouse . pyramiden features similar facilities ; both are built in typical post - world war ii soviet architectural and planning style and contain the world 's two most northerly lenin statues and other socialist realism artwork . as of 2013 , a handful of workers are stationed in the largely abandoned pyramiden to maintain the infrastructure and run the hotel , which has been re - opened for tourists . religion most of the population is affiliated with the church of norway . catholics on the archipelago are pastorally served by the roman catholic diocese of oslo . politics the svalbard treaty of 1920 established full norwegian sovereignty over the archipelago . the islands are , unlike the norwegian antarctic territory , a part of the kingdom of norway and not a dependency . the treaty came into effect in 1925 , following the svalbard act . all forty signatory countries of the treaty have the right to conduct commercial activities on the archipelago without discrimination , although all activity is subject to norwegian legislation . the treaty limits norway 's right to collect taxes to that of financing services on svalbard . therefore , svalbard has a lower income tax than mainland norway , and there is no value added tax . there is a separate budget for svalbard to ensure compliance . svalbard is a demilitarized zone , as the treaty prohibits the establishment of military installations . norwegian military activity is limited to fishery surveillance by the norwegian coast guard as the treaty requires norway to protect the natural environment . the svalbard act established the institution of the governor of svalbard ( norwegian : ) , who holds the responsibility as both county governor and chief of police , as well as holding other authority granted from the executive branch . duties include environmental policy , family law , law enforcement , search and rescue , tourism management , information services , contact with foreign settlements , and judge in some areas of maritime inquiries and judicial examinations — albeit never in the same cases as acting as police . since 2015 , has been governor ; she is assisted by a staff of 26 professionals . the institution is subordinate to the ministry of justice and the police , but reports to other ministries in matters within their portfolio . since 2002 , longyearbyen community council has had many of the same responsibilities of a municipality , including utilities , education , cultural facilities , fire department , roads and ports . no care or nursing services are available , nor is welfare payment available . norwegian residents retain pension and medical rights through their mainland municipalities . the hospital is part of university hospital of north norway , while the airport is operated by state - owned avinor . ny - ålesund and barentsburg remain company towns with all infrastructure owned by kings bay and arktikugol , respectively . other public offices with presence on svalbard are the norwegian directorate of mining , the norwegian polar institute , the norwegian tax administration and the church of norway . svalbard is subordinate to nord - troms district court and hålogaland court of appeal , both located in tromsø . although norway is part of the european economic area ( eea ) and the schengen agreement , svalbard is not part of the schengen area or the eea . non - norwegian svalbard residents do not need schengen visas , but are prohibited from reaching svalbard from mainland norway without such . in theory it would be possible to do a visa - free airport transit at oslo airport , but this is not allowed by norway . people without a source of income can be rejected by the governor . no person is required visa or residence permit for svalbard . everybody can live and work in svalbard indefinitely regardless of citizenship . svalbard treaty grants treaty nationals equal right of abode as norwegian nationals . so far , non - treaty nationals were admitted visa - free as well . " regulations concerning rejection and expulsion from svalbard " in force . russia retains a consulate in barentsburg . in september 2010 a treaty was made between russia and norway fixing the boundary between the svalbard archipelago and the novaya zemlya archipelago . increased interest in petroleum exploration in the arctic raised interest in a resolution of the dispute . the agreement takes into account the relative positions of the archipelagos , rather than being based simply on northward extension of the continental border of norway and russia . economy the three main industries on svalbard are coal mining , tourism , and research . in 2007 , there were 484 people working in the mining sector , 211 people working in the tourism sector and 111 people working in the education sector . the same year , the mining gave a revenue of nok 2 . 008 billion ( 227 , 791 , 078 usd ) , tourism nok 317 million ( 35 , 967 , 202 usd ) and research nok 142 million ( 16 , 098 , 404 usd ) in 2006 , the average income for economically active people was nok 494 , 700 — 23 % higher than on the mainland . almost all housing is owned by the various employers and institutions and rented to their employees ; there are only a few privately owned houses , most of which are recreational cabins . because of this , it is nearly impossible to live on svalbard without working for an established institution . since the resettlement of svalbard in the early 20th century , coal mining has been the dominant commercial activity . store norske spitsbergen kulkompani , a subsidiary of the norwegian ministry of trade and industry , operates svea nord in sveagruva and mine 7 in longyearbyen . the former produced 3 . 4 million tonnes in 2008 , while the latter uses 35 % of its output to longyearbyen power station . since 2007 , there has not been any significant mining by the russian state - owned arktikugol in barentsburg . there have previously been performed test drilling for petroleum on land , but these did not give satisfactory results for permanent operation . the norwegian authorities do not allow offshore petroleum activities for environmental reasons , and the land formerly test - drilled on has been protected as natural reserves or national parks . in 2011 , a 20 - year plan to develop offshore oil and gas resources around svalbard was announced . svalbard has historically been a base for both whaling and fishing . norway claimed a 200 - nautical - mile ( 370 km ; 230 mi ) exclusive economic zone ( eez ) around svalbard in 1977 , with 31 , 688 square kilometres ( 12 , 235 sq mi ) of internal waters and 770 , 565 square kilometres ( 297 , 517 sq mi ) of eez . norway retains a restrictive fisheries policy in the zone , and the claims are disputed by russia . tourism is focused on the environment and is centered on longyearbyen . activities include hiking , kayaking , walks through glacier caves and snowmobile and dog - sled safari . cruise ships generate a significant portion of the traffic , including both stops by offshore vessels and expeditionary cruises starting and ending in svalbard . traffic is strongly concentrated between march and august ; overnights have quintupled from 1991 to 2008 , when there were 93 , 000 guest - nights . research on svalbard centers on longyearbyen and ny - ålesund , the most accessible areas in the high arctic . the treaty grants permission for any nation to conduct research on svalbard , resulting in the polish polar station and the chinese arctic yellow river station , plus russian facilities in barentsburg . the university centre in svalbard in longyearbyen offers undergraduate , graduate and postgraduate courses to 350 students in various arctic sciences , particularly biology , geology and geophysics . courses are provided to supplement studies at the mainland universities ; there are no tuition fees and courses are held in english , with norwegian and international students equally represented . the svalbard global seed vault is a seedbank to store seeds from as many of the world 's crop varieties and their botanical wild relatives as possible . a cooperation between the government of norway and the global crop diversity trust , the vault is cut into rock near longyearbyen , keeping it at a natural − 6 ° c ( 21 ° f ) and refrigerating the seeds to − 18 ° c ( 0 ° f ) . the svalbard undersea cable system is a 1 , 440 km ( 890 mi ) fibre optic line from svalbard to harstad , needed for communicating with polar orbiting satellites through svalbard satellite station and installations in ny - ålesund . one source of income for the area is visiting cruise ships . the norwegian government has become concerned in recent years about large numbers of cruise ship passengers suddenly landing at small settlements such as ny - ålesund , which is conveniently close to the barren - yet - picturesque magdalena fjord . with the increasing size of the larger ships , up to 2000 people can potentially appear in a community that normally numbers less than 40 . the government has recently passed legislation , effective from january 2014 , severely restricting the size of cruise ships that may visit . transport within longyearbyen , barentsburg , and ny - ålesund , there are road systems , but they do not connect with each other . off - road motorized transport is prohibited on bare ground , but snowmobiles are used extensively during winter — both for commercial and recreational activities . transport from longyearbyen to barentsburg ( 45 km or 28 mi ) and pyramiden ( 100 km or 62 mi ) is possible by snowmobile by winter , or by ship all year round . all settlements have ports and longyearbyen has a bus system . svalbard airport , longyear , located 3 kilometres ( 2 mi ) from longyearbyen , is the only airport offering air transport off the archipelago . scandinavian airlines has daily scheduled services to tromsø and oslo . low - cost carrier norwegian air shuttle also has a service between oslo and svalbard , operating three or four times a week ; there are also irregular charter services to russia . finnair has announced to commence service to helsinki , operating three times a week starting june 1 , 2016 and lasting until 27 august 2016 , but norwegian authorities did not allow this route as it was not in bilateral agreement on air traffic between finland and norway . lufttransport provides regular corporate charter services from longyearbyen to ny - ålesund airport and svea airport for kings bay and store norske ; these flights are in general not available to the public . there are heliports in barentsburg and pyramiden , and helicopters are frequently used by the governor and to a lesser extent the mining company arktikugol . climate the climate of svalbard is dominated by its high latitude , with the average summer temperature at 4 to 6 ° c ( 39 to 43 ° f ) and january averages at − 16 to − 12 ° c ( 3 to 10 ° f ) . the west spitsbergen current , the northernmost branch of the north atlantic current system , moderates svalbard 's temperatures , particularly during winter . winter temperatures in svalbard are up to − 20 ° c ( − 36 ° f ) higher than similar latitudes in russia and canada . the warm atlantic water keeps the surrounding waters open and navigable most of the year . the interior fjord areas and valleys , sheltered by the mountains , have larger temperature differences than the coast , giving about 2 ° c ( 4 ° f ) warmer summer temperatures and 3 ° c ( 5 ° f ) colder winter temperatures . on the south of spitsbergen , the temperature is slightly higher than further north and west . during winter , the temperature difference between south and north is typically 5 ° c ( 9 ° f ) , and about 3 ° c ( 5 ° f ) in summer . bear island has average temperatures even higher than the rest of the archipelago . svalbard is where cold polar air from the north and mild , wet sea air from the south meet , creating low pressure , changeable weather and strong winds , particularly in winter ; in january , a strong breeze is registered 17 % of the time at isfjord radio , but only 1 % of the time in july . in summer , particularly away from land , fog is common , with visibility under 1 kilometre ( 0 . 6 mi ) registered 20 % of the time in july and 1 % of the time in january , at hopen and bjørnøya . precipitation is frequent , but falls in small quantities , typically less than 400 millimetres ( 16 in ) per year in western spitsbergen . more rain falls on the uninhabited east side , where there can be more than 1 , 000 millimetres ( 39 in ) . nature in addition to humans , three primarily terrestrial mammalian species inhabit the archipelago : the arctic fox , the svalbard reindeer , and accidentally introduced southern voles , which are found only in grumant . attempts to introduce the arctic hare and the muskox have both failed . there are fifteen to twenty types of marine mammals , including whales , dolphins , seals , walruses , and polar bears . polar bears are the iconic symbol of svalbard , and one of the main tourist attractions . while protected , anyone outside of settlements is recommended to carry a firearm to kill polar bears in self - defence , as a last resort , should they attack , and is required to have appropriate means of frightening and chasing off polar bears ; a british schoolboy was killed by a polar bear in 2011 . svalbard and franz joseph land share a common population of 3 , 000 polar bears , with kong karls land being the most important breeding ground . the svalbard reindeer ( r. platyrhynchus ) is a distinct sub - species ; although it was previously almost extinct , it can be legally hunted ( as can arctic fox ) . there are limited numbers of domesticated animals in the russian settlements . about thirty species of bird are found on svalbard , most of which are migratory . the barents sea is among the areas in the world with most seabirds , with about 20 million individuals during late summer . the most common are little auk , northern fulmar , thick - billed murre and black - legged kittiwake . sixteen species are on the iucn red list . particularly bjørnøya , , - spitsbergen and hopen are important breeding ground for seabirds . the arctic tern has the furthest migration , all the way to antarctica . only two songbirds migrate to svalbard to breed : the snow bunting and the wheatear . rock ptarmigan is the only bird to overwinter . remains of predator x from the jurassic period have been found ; it is the largest dinosaur - era marine reptile ever found — a pliosaur estimated to have been almost 15 m ( 49 ft ) long . svalbard has permafrost and tundra , with both low , middle and high arctic vegetation . 165 species of plants have been found on the archipelago . only those areas which defrost in the summer have vegetations , which accounts for about 10 % of the archipelago . vegetation is most abundant in nordenskiöld land , around isfjorden and where affected by guano . while there is little precipitation , giving the archipelago a steppe climate , plants still have good access to water because the cold climate reduces evaporation . the growing season is very short , and may last only a few weeks . there are seven national parks in svalbard : , indre wijdefjorden , nordenskiöld land , nordre isfjorden land , - spitsbergen , sassen - land and sør - spitsbergen . the archipelago has fifteen bird sanctuaries , one protected area and six nature reserves — with - svalbard and - svalbard both being larger than any of the national parks . most of the nature reserves and three of the national parks were protected in 1973 , with nearly all the remaining protected occurring in the 2000s . all human traces dating from before 1946 are automatically protected . the protected areas make up 65 % of the archipelago . svalbard is on norway 's tentative list for nomination as a unesco world heritage site . the total solar eclipse of march 20 , 2015 included only svalbard and the faroe islands in the band of totality . many scientists and tourists attended . media news about svalbard in english and norwegian is published weekly at , while " alternative " news in english is at svalbard makes a prominent appearance in northern lights by philip pullman and the corresponding movie . in the novel it is used as a prison for important and powerful people . it is inhabited by , mighty polar bears that wear armor forged from sky - iron . one of the primary characters , lord asriel , was imprisoned and manages to flee from svalbard during the novel . the fictional town of fortitude , as portrayed in the 2015 tv series fortitude ( from uk 's sky atlantic ) , is situated in svalbard . in 2014 the swedish singer tove filmed a music video in pyramiden for her single borderline .