Barentsøya, anglicized as Barents Island, is an Arcticisland in the Svalbard archipelago of Norway, lying between Edgeøya and Spitsbergen. To the north, in the sound between Barentsøya and Spitsbergen, lies the island of Kükenthaløya. To the south, the sound separating Barents Island from Edgeøya is Freemansundet.
The island was named after Dutch explorer Willem Barents who, despite discovering Svalbard, never sighted Barentsøya itself. The name "Barents Land" was only given after an 1865 Swedish expedition. Previously, Dutch whaling captains had referred to it on maps as Zuyd Ooster Land ("Southeastern Land") as early as 1710.[1]
In 1936, Norway built four cabins on the island to formally establish control.[1]
Geography
July NASA 2002 satellite photograph of Edgeoya and Barentsøya
Barentsøya has an approximately square shape, with maximum lengths and widths of about fifty kilometers,[3] and an area of 1,288 km2 (497 sq mi). A significant part of the island, more than 500 km2 (190 sq mi), is glaciated. The ice cap of Barentsjøkulen covers a large part of the island, with the largest offspring Besselsbreen (north), Duckwitzbreen (west), Freemanbreen (south), and Hübnerbreen (southeast).[4][5][6][7][8] Barentsjøkulen has the two large ice domes of Peer Gyntslottet and Solveigdomen.[9][10] The mountain of Schweinfurthberget is a nunatak of Barentsjøkulen.[11] It has a height of 590 m.a.s.l., is the highest mountain of Barentsøya, and is named after German scientist Georg August Schweinfurth.[12]
Around 43 percent of the island's 1,288 square kilometres (497 sq mi) area is glaciated, and much of the surface rock has been eroded over millions of years by glaciation.[22]
^Arctic Pilot: Sailing directions Svalbard–Jan Mayen. Vol. 7. Stavanger: The Norwegian Hydrographic Service and The Norwegian Polar Institute. 1988. p. 360. ISBN82-90653-06-9.
