Olonkinbyen (literally ''The Olonkin Town'') is the only settlement on the

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An isla ...

Jan Mayen Jan Mayen () is a Norwegian volcanic island in the Arctic Ocean with no permanent population. It is long (southwest-northeast) and in area, partly covered by glaciers (an area of around the Beerenberg volcano). It has two parts: larger ...

(aside from isolated cottage huts such as Puppebu). It was named after Russian-Norwegian explorer Gennady Olonkin. The only inhabitants on the island are the 18 personnel, 14 working for the

Norwegian Armed Forces The Norwegian Armed Forces ( no, Forsvaret, , The Defence) is the military organization responsible for the defence of Norway. It consists of five branches, the Norwegian Army, the Royal Norwegian Navy, which includes the Coast Guard, the Royal ...

and 4 for the

Norwegian Meteorological Institute The Norwegian Meteorological Institute ( no, Meteorologisk institutt), also known internationally as MET Norway, is Norway's national meteorological institute. It provides weather forecasts for civilian and military uses and conducts research in m ...

. Olonkinbyen houses the staff that operate the meteorological observation station,

Loran-C Loran-C is a hyperbolic radio navigation system that allows a receiver to determine its position by listening to low frequency radio signals that are transmitted by fixed land-based radio beacons. Loran-C combined two different techniques to ...

station, Jan Mayensfield air field and other infrastructure. The meteorological observation service staff are responsible for the

radiosonde A radiosonde is a battery-powered telemetry instrument carried into the atmosphere usually by a weather balloon that measures various atmospheric parameters and transmits them by radio to a ground receiver. Modern radiosondes measure or calcula ...

releases and synoptic weather observations. The crew of the meteorological station is engaged for six months at a time. Supplies are delivered eight times a year by aircraft. Fuel and heavy goods are transported by boat during the summer. The settlement generates its own electrical power via three generators. In January 2021, two employees of the Armed Forces died in an avalanche.https://www.nrk.no/norge/to-ansatte-i-forsvaret-omkom-i-snoskred-pa-jan-mayen-1.15352761 (In Norwegian)

Climate

Olonkinbyen has a

tundra climate The tundra climate is a polar climate sub-type located in high latitudes and high mountains. undra climate https://www.britannica.com/science/tundra-climateThe Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2019 It is classified as ET according to Köppen ...

(Köppen classified as ET), the warmest month is August and the coldest month is March.

References

External links

INA Station at OlonkinbyenView of OlonkinbyenAerial view of Olonkinbyen
Geography of Jan Mayen Populated places of Arctic Norway {{JanMayen-geo-stub