Bear Island
Discover the majesty of this unique Arctic outpost, gateway to the icebound shores of Svalbard
Sitting roughly halfway between the Norwegian mainland and the southern tip of Svalbard, Bear Island (known synonymously as Bjørnøya in Norwegian) is one of Earth’s most isolated oceanic islands. The island is administered as part of the Norwegian territory of Svalbard and Jan Mayen, although there is no permanent population besides a few Norwegian scientists. Rough weather, regular heavy fog, and strong winds beset the island, meaning that visiting here is a true bucket-list experience for any explorer!
Area of Bear Island
- 178 km²
Population of Bear Island
- 9 to 11 (non-permanent)
Why Travel to Bear Island
Bear Island is one of the most remote islands on Earth, accessible only by sea; like other remote islands such as South Georgia and Jan Mayen, Bear Island is a must-visit for many seasoned explorers. Complete ‘the set’ of Norwegian Arctic islands on a voyage with us, also visiting Svalbard and Jan Mayen!
Birding paradise
Bear Island is designated as a nature reserve by the Norwegian Government, and is also an internationally important Ramsar Wetland site and Important Bird Area as designated by BirdLife International. Bear Island benefits from strong legal protections on the natural environment, meaning it is a haven for bird life, with tens of thousands of pairs of a huge variety of seabirds breeding on the island. The only native land mammal is the Arctic fox.
Misleading name?
Despite its name, polar bears are actually incredibly rare on Bear Island. These majestic predators occasionally arrive on the island on rafts of sea ice and become stranded over the summer – although the movement patterns of the ice mean that these bears generally do not originate on Svalbard, but deeper into the Russian waters of the Bering Sea – a fact confirmed by genetic evidence. Legend has it that after a deadly encounter with a bear there, Barentsz and his crew gave the island its current name.
The Holdouts
Surrounded by vital shipping routes to the Soviet Union, German forces established several stations on the island vital to their Arctic campaign in the Second World War. Despite hearing of Germany’s surrender on May 7, 1945, the soldiers on the island were left isolated, lacking in communication and running out of supplies. They eventually surrendered to a group of Norwegian sealers on September 4, 1945, becoming the final German soldiers of World War II to do so.
Map of Bear Island
A Fascinating Archipelago
The twenty major islands and the many small islets that comprise the archipelago of Svalbard total around 62,700km2 – slightly smaller than the Republic of Ireland. Spitsbergen (often used synonymously with Svalbard) and Nordaustlandet are the largest islands; almost 60 % of the archipelago is covered by glaciers and around 10 % by tundra, with the rest consisting of cliffs, mountains, and bare rock. Geological evidence shows us that Svalbard was not always a cold, icebound realm – fossil leaves and even corals can be commonly found throughout Svalbard, hinting at its diverse history. The oldest rocks on Svalbard were lifted out of the sea by tectonic collisions around 450 million years ago.
No Man’s Land – the History of Bear Island
Like the rest of Svalbard, Bear Island’s early history is murky. The region was certainly within reach of Viking-era seafaring technology; whether the place named ‘Svalbarði’ (literally ‘Cold Coasts’) referred to in the Icelandic sagas is Bear Island, Svalbard, Jan Mayen or even Greenland remains open to debate. The certain historical record of the island begins on June 9, 1596, when legendary explorer Willem Barentsz discovered Bear Island during his third voyage to the Arctic, reaching the mainland of Svalbard around a week later.
Sadly, the story of Bear Island from this point followed a similar pattern to much of the rest of the European Arctic, with English and Dutch whalers quickly arriving to slaughter the abundant whales and walruses in the area, and Russian Pomors trapping large quantities of wildlife onshore. For several hundred years Svalbard and Bear Island were an international ‘no man’s land’, exploited by treasure seekers from many nations, and the island was contested between Norway, Russia and Germany during the 19th century. A coal mine was established at Tunheim on the northern coast in the 1920s, but like most ventures on the island, it quickly became unviable.
The island saw some action in the Second World War due to the important adjacent supply routes to the Soviet Union, and the German soldiers on Bear Island were the last to surrender during the war in September 1945. The island has been internationally recognized as part of Norway under the Svalbard Treaty since the end of the war. After the hunting and whaling era, Bear Island’s environment began to slowly recover, and the island and its surrounding waters were designated as a nature reserve in 2002.
Wildlife That Occupy Land, Sea, and Sky
Surrounded by hundreds of miles of rich ocean and largely isolated from the rest of the world, Bear Island is a haven for Arctic wildlife. Polar bears are incredibly rare here, so Arctic foxes are the only mammalian predators on the island. The island’s wildlife is dominated by seabirds, which mostly nest on the cliffs at the southern end of the island and constitute some of the largest seabird colonies in the North Atlantic, while the lakes and rivers of the northern side are vital habitat for transient wading and shore birds.
Expect to see throngs of northern fulmars, little auks, black-legged kittiwakes and Brünnich’s guillemots crowding together on the cliff faces. Watch out for Arctic foxes prowling the clifftops and beaches, and for glaucous gulls and great skuas cruising above, hunting for an easy meal.
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The Climate of Bear Island
Sitting well above the Arctic Circle, Bear Island’s climate is cool year-round, with very long dark winters and short but bright summers. Sitting at the junction of Atlantic and Arctic waters and benefiting from the last weak gasp of the Gulf Stream, Bear Island is rarely icebound and, unlike Svalbard to the north, does not hold any glaciers. Winter days are comfortably below zero, but far warmer than nearby regions such as Siberia or Svalbard itself.
| AVERAGE HIGH | AVERAGE LOW | PRECIPITATION | |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 28°F (-2.3°C) | 19°F (-7.3°C) | 1.9 in (48 mm) |
| February | 27°F (-2.8°C) | 18°F (-7.7°C) | 1.6 in (42 mm) |
| March | 27°F (-3°C) | 18°F (-8°C) | 1.6 in (42 mm) |
| April | 30°F (-1.4°C) | 22°F (-5.7°C) | 1.3 in (32 mm) |
| May | 35°F (1.5°C) | 29°F (-1.7°C) | 1 in (25 mm) |
| June | 40°F (4.5°C) | 35°F (1.5°C) | 0.8 in (20 mm) |
| July | 45°F (7.2°C) | 39°F (3.8°C) | 1.1 in (27 mm) |
| August | 45°F (7.3°C) | 40°F (4.2°C) | 1.3 in (33 mm) |
| September | 42°F (5.5°C) | 37°F (2.7°C) | 1.9 in (47mm) |
| October | 36°F (2.2°C) | 30°F (-1°C) | 1.6 in (40 mm) |
| November | 32°F (0.2°C) | 26°F (-3.5°C) | 1.8 in (46 mm) |
| December | 30°F (-1.2°C) | 22°F (-5.7°C) | 2 in (50 mm) |
