RESEARCH STATION

Location

Petuniabukta station is located in the central part of Svalbard in the northernmost part of the Billefjorden, Isflorden in Petunia bay. The station itself is located in non-protected area, however in the close vicinity three national parks are located - Sassen-Bunsow Land NP, Norde Isfjorden NP, Indre Wijdefjorden NP. Station is placed on the shore of Billefjorden, however surrounded by the mountainous terrain. Nearest settlement is Longyearbyen (population 2000) 60km south.

Biodiversity and natural environment

Petuniabukta Station is situated in the High Arctic. Petunia bay is located in the central part of Svalbard archipelago, which is more continental and drier than the western part. There is a steep elevation gradient in the area (the highest mountains reach 1000m asl). Various biotopes could be accessed within walking distance in the area - sandy beaches, waterlogged tundra, seepages, dry tundra, bird cliffs, small lakes, glacier rivers, glaciers. Rich wildlife, such as gulls, kittiwakes, terns, barnacle geese, eider, reindeer, arctic foxes or polar bears is present as well.

containers in Pyramiden

History and facilities

Petunia station has been established in 2007, when two containers (for storage and for living) were installed. During summer season, the hunting hut (built in 80ies), which is located cca 6km North to Pyramiden, is rented from Arktikugol company and used by our research group since 2008 as well. Present facilities are rather limited, the hut can accommodate up to 12 persons (+6 in container) and is equipped with a small laboratory, kitchen and shared bedroom. Communication is ensured with VHF radio and sat-phones. Two zodiacs are used for transportation in the Billefjorden area, new 15m boat will be available since summer 2012.

General research and databases

Research is focused especially on biodiversity and ecosystem dynamics. Relatively long research tradition have plant ecology, phycology, parasitology and bioclimatology. Nowadays also scientific fields such as geomorphology or hydrology are developing in the area. Regular meteorological measurements were established in 2007. The pilot project of Czech research group is the study of biological and climatic diversity  including ecological, phycological, zoological and parasitological research. The second larger interdisciplinary project focuses on glacier dynamics gahtering information from the fields of geology, geomorphology, glaciology, climatology and hydrology.

old Russian hunting hut rented from Arktikugol company during summer season

Human dimension

The station is located in the area with strong Russian influence in the neighbourhood of the old mining town of Pyramiden. This was abandoned in 1998 and nowadays is slowly recovering (population 15 in summer, 2 during winter). Apart this, nearest proper settlement is Longyearbyen with Norwegian population (60km southwards). Even though it has just about 2000 inhabitants, all infrastructure and facilities are present – shops+services, airport, hospital, university, church etc.. Traditionally the population was employed in fishery (whaling), later in coal mining industry. At the moment tourism is becoming an important source of gain.

Access

There are regular commercial flights to Longyearbyen (3hours from Oslo). To reach the station two local cruising companies organise tourist trips with stop in Pyramiden directly on the landing wharf with our containers and approximately 5km from the hut. It takes usually about 5-6 hours to reach Pyramiden. There is also the possibility to rent boat in Longyearbyen from private company (the University Centre in Svalbard provides this service as well). Reaching the station on zodiac from Longyearbyen requires good weather conditions and calm sea.

location of Petunia station within Svalbard (source: http://visibleearth.nasa.gov)

for more photographs from the hut follow the link

for detailed map refer to NPI website