26.09.2025 Town walk
During the public info night we invited people to join us on a walk through town to learn more about our permafrost monitoring efforts and challenges of living on permafrost. Permafrost expert Hanne Christiansen led the walk, assisted by Marius Jonassen, Knut Tveit, and Maaike Weerdesteijn, all from UNIS. The walk included the following stops and topics:
• Town square: uneven settling of the brick path, explanation of wooden skirts around buildings on piles, cooling plate foundation beneath the supermarket
• Hilmar Rekstensvei: LongyearObs private weather stations, scars of active layer detachment on Sukkertoppen, avalanche fences
• Vannledningsdalen: research instruments of boreholes, ground water content, electrical resistivity tomography, weather station, and showing live data from the boreholes
• Perleporten bridge: water management, dams, past geohazards (slush avalanche destroying Haugen in 1953), and slush avalanche fences
• Red house at Haugen: greatly deformed and evacuated
• Old hospital building: Permafrost changes + poor decision making
The participants had many relevant questions during the walk and we ended the walk with a long discussion on societal challenges and permafrost knowledge with the large turnover of people in town.
24.09.2025 Dialogue stakeholder meeting & public info night
Social scientists Grete Hovelsrud & Tiril Vold Hansen, Nordland Research Institute, traveled to Longyearbyen to host a dialogue meeting with stakeholders, together with local Eystein Markusson, Svalbard Museum director. Project partners attending the meeting were geotechnical engineer Arne Instanes, Instanes AS, Lillian Risvaag, Longyearbyen Lokalstyre, and researchers Hanne Christiansen, Marius Jonassen, and Maaike Weerdesteijn, University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS). The dialogue meeting participants (stakeholders) came from Sysselmesteren (Governor of Svalbard), Riksantikvaret (Directorate for Cultural Heritage), Svalbard Energi, LPO Architects, and Svalbard Museum. The meeting lasted 1.5 hours and covered topics such as:
• What do you think are the biggest consequences of thawing permafrost in Longyearbyen?
• Which areas in Longyearbyen do you think are particularly vulnerable to thawing permafrost?
• What changes affect you in your daily life?
• What kind of infrastructure and cultural heritage in Longyearbyen do you think is particularly important to monitor in the future in connection with thawing permafrost?
These questions triggered an engaging discussion among the different parties, and gave us a better understanding of the concerns of thawing permafrost for the local companies and institutes.
In the evening, we hosted an open information meeting for everyone in town. The meeting was hosted in room Lassegrotta at UNIS, and we had a full house. We gave short presentations on the thawing permafrost in Longyearbyen, what it means for cultural heritage, infrastructure, and mountain slopes, and how we can prepare:
• Climate Change and Permafrost: Challenges for Longyearbyen. By Hanne Christiansen and Marius Jonassen, UNIS
• Climate Change and Cultural Heritage: Status and Challenges for Longyearbyen. By Eystein Markusson, Svalbard museum
• Adapting to Thawing Permafrost in Longyearbyen: Societal Challenges and Local Involvement. By Grete Hovelsrud, Nordland Research Institute
• Developing a Permafrost & Climate Change Response System for Longyearbyen: Local Needs and Involvement. By Maaike Weerdesteijn, UNIS
Following the presentations, there was an open discussion about the need for knowledge, action, adaptation, response systems, and local engagement.
