Jan Mayen

Jan Mayen: Beerenberg

Jan Mayen, island, part of the Kingdom of Norway, in the Greenland Sea of the Arctic Ocean, about 300 mi (500 km) east of Greenland. It is approximately 35 mi long and 9 mi across at its widest point, with an area of 144 sq mi (373 sq km). It is the peak of a submarine volcanic ridge, and Beerenberg volcano (7,470 ft [2,277 m]), the last major eruption of which was in 1732, forms the Nord-Jan, the northeastern region of the island. The remainder, Sør-Jan, the southern region, is low and hilly. There are no harbours. The island is bleak and desolate, and its climate is foggy and stormy, with temperatures ranging from -25° F (-32° C) in December to 50° F (10° C) in July. There is a little tundra, on which a few foxes subsist.

The island was possibly first sighted in 1607 by Henry Hudson, who called it Hudson’s Tutches (Touches). In 1614 a Dutch sea captain, Jan May, claimed territorial rights to the island for his company and Holland. It was early used as a whaling base, but by 1642 the whales had been exterminated from the surrounding waters. It was frequently visited, but the first to winter on the island were the personnel of an Austrian weather station established there during the First International Polar Year (1882–83). A Norwegian meteorological observatory and a radio station were built in 1921, and on May 8, 1929, Norway annexed Jan Mayen. During World War II the U.S. armed forces maintained a weather station there. In 1958–59 an airstrip and a radio and navigation station were erected on the island by the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) allies. This equipment was extended with a console navigation system in 1970. Apart from the station personnel, the island is uninhabited.