The Adventdalen weather station is up and running again. Updated weather data and webcam images can now be accessed from the UNIS webpage.

Text: Eva Therese Jenssen

The Adventdalen weather station has been off-line since last spring, and it has been greatly missed by people at UNIS and the public in Longyearbyen in general. Although temperatures and wind data were logged, the information was not available on-line on the UNIS webpage.

- We have gotten a lot of questions from the public, who clearly missed having an on-line weather service to refer to when planning trips and activities, says Dr. Anna Sjöblom, associate professor in meteorology at UNIS.

The old weather station was not really ideal to use as reference point for research projects. It was also a question about allocating funds for a new weather station with new instrumentation. After the scientific and technical departments at UNIS all contributed money for the project, a new weather station was set up in the beginning of April by the old Auroral station in Adventdalen outside Longyearbyen.

UNIS technicians set up the new weather station nearby the old Auroral station. (Photo: Stefan Claes).

The station now records temperature, wind, humidity and air pressure at both 2 metres and 10 metres height. In addition, there is a web camera recording in real-time, where viewers can look at what the weather is like in Adventdalen right now.

- We are very happy with the new station; it is top modern with calibrated instrumentation that we can use more actively in our research projects. In addition, it is an important part of the teaching we do in meteorology, Dr. Sjöblom says.

You can access the Adventdalen weather station data and the webcam here:

On this webpage you will also find links to our other weather stations at Breinosa, Janssonhaugen and Gruvefjellet (Spitsbergen) and at Kapp Lee (Edge Island). The Rijpfjorden weather station (Nordaustlandet) is presently off-line due to a technical problem.

Location of the new weather station in Adventdalen. (Illustration: Stefan Claes).