Smeerenburg, Svalbard
Smeerenburg, Dutch for Blubber Town, is the site of the best-known 17th-century whaling station in Svalbard, on the low, sandy southeast tip of Amsterdamoya (Amsterdam Island) at the far northwest corner of Spitsbergen. More about Smeerenburg →
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About Smeerenburg
Smeerenburg, Dutch for Blubber Town, is the site of the best-known 17th-century whaling station in Svalbard, on the low, sandy southeast tip of Amsterdamoya (Amsterdam Island) at the far northwest corner of Spitsbergen. In the first half of the 1600s it was the main base of Dutch whaling, where whale blubber was boiled down into oil in large brick ovens on the beach.
Today the station has almost disappeared under sand, but the dark, asphalt-like remains of about a dozen blubber ovens and around 100 whalers' graves are still visible.
The site lies in Nordvest-Spitsbergen National Park, surrounded by fjords, glaciers and steep mountains, and walruses often haul out on the beach. It is a popular stop on Svalbard expedition cruises in summer, visited only on guided landings or by Zodiac cruise.
- Climate
- High Arctic, though milder than its latitude thanks to the North Atlantic Current: at Ny-Alesund, about 92 km south (1991-2020 normals), June to August averages only about 3-6 C, with fog, cold wind and fast weather changes common, and December to March about -9 to -12 C. Precipitation is about 470 mm a year; the exposed site can be colder, windier and foggier than the station.
- Time zone
- Central European Time
- Currency
- Norwegian Krone (NOK)