Polar Motifs - Bear Island

The island of seabirds
Bjørnøya has a remote location in the Barents Sea, midway between mainland Norway and Spitsbergen. It was the Dutch explorer Willem Barentsz who gave the island its name in 1596, following an encounter with a swimming polar bear.

Thanks to its location, the island has been of major strategic interest ever since the 1900s, both from a military, economic and resource point of view. There is no permanent settlement on the island, but the Bjørnøya Meteorological Station is situated on the north side and is the island’s only permanent establishment.

As the only island in a large and rich sea area, Bjørnøya is like a magnet for seabirds during the breeding season, and the meeting place for both northern and southern seabird species makes the island an interesting research site. The sheer quantity of seabirds and their accessibility is truly unique. The topography of Bjørnøya allows close access to the birds, and the landscape enables studies of seabirds that would be difficult or impossible elsewhere. In 2002, Bjørnøya was protected as a nature reserve to secure both the large seabird population and the island’s distinctive and magnificent landscape.