Another fox on Svalbard has tested positive for rabies after being caught in a trap, according to Svalbardposten.

The Governor of Svalbard helped free a reindeer that had become stuck, reportedly in trash, in Longyearbyen. Authorities suggest such incidents may recur due to litter.

An emaciated Arctic fox found dead at Vindodden in August tested positive for avian influenza, not rabies, according to the Norwegian Veterinary Institute.

A temperature of 10.2°C was recorded Tuesday morning at Svalbard Airport, the warmest October reading since measurements began. Mild weather is reported around Longyearbyen.

Longyearbyen authorities advise residents not to drink tap water after manganese levels spiked to about 1,000 µg/L. Free drinking water is being distributed via Svalbardbutikken and filtered bulk containers from Svalbard Bryggeri.

Researchers report unusually abundant cloudberries in Svalbard this year, with monitoring at Colesbukta indicating the berries did well. The exact locations are being kept secret and picking is not allowed due to protections.

An Arctic fox found at Alkepynten, Svalbard, has tested positive for rabies, the Norwegian Veterinary Institute reports.

During this year's reindeer count in Adventdalen, researcher Åshild Ønvik Pedersen discovered an unprecedented number of reindeer carcasses, indicating a significant die-off.

In early July, a group found a sick polar fox in Sundbukta near Longyearbyen, and the Governor’s office was notified.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza was confirmed in four Arctic fox pups near Barentsburg, Svalbard—the first detection of bird flu in Arctic foxes in Norway. Sick cubs and adult foxes were euthanized to prevent further spread.

The article reports extremely low sea ice measurements in the Arctic for January, with notable figures from both the Arctic and Southern Hemisphere.

“Last year we got several reports from tourists and scientists that they saw around six walruses dead here on the west side of Svalbard. Unfortunately, we couldn’t sample them as the dead walruses drifted away by the time we got to the place. But it’s not normal to get so many reported dead walruses in such a small area," said Christian Lydersen, senior scientist at the Norwegian Polar Institute. Now samples (collected by a Station Manager in July 2023) have tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza.

Longyearbyen airport had an average temperature of 6.1°C, which is 2.5°C above normal. Global air and sea surface temperatures were also at record levels.

There have been similar, even larger outbreaks of avian flue in seabird colonies in north Norway. In some cases, the losses were dramatic and major fractions of the colonies were wiped out. In Spitsbergen, avian flu was found for the first time in 2002, but the recent outbreak on Hopen is the largest one so far.

Temperature records are becoming the new normal for summers on Svalbard, the Arctic archipelago halfway between mainland Norway and the North Pole. Summer 2022 saw the average even higher, with 7.4 degrees C for June, July and August at the airport a few kilometers west of Longyearbyen, the main settlement on the archipelago.

A French woman is hospitalized and a polar bear is dead after the bear attacked the woman on the Norwegian Arctic archipelago Svalbard Monday morning. The woman, who was wounded in the arm by the attacking polar bear, was one of 25 people staying at a tent camp in Nordfjorden on the northern shores of Isfjorden.

Rare footage shot by a researcher expedition in Norway shows a polar bear hunting and catching a swimming adult reindeer. The video, captured by Mateusz Gruszka, a cook for an expedition of Polish researchers in August 2021 on the Svalbard archipelago, shows the bear catching the reindeer and drowning it before dragging it ashore.

At Longyearbyen airport, the peak temperature reached 9.2 °C for a short period, nearly two degrees warmer than the last November record measured in 1975.

The glacier over Mine 7 in Adventdalen on Svalbard is thawing in the summer heat. This has resulted in a severe flood with thousands of liters of water.

The man, identified as 38-year-old Dutch citizen was attacked in his tent before dawn and died shortly afterwards of his injuries. Svalbard officials say there were seven people on the site at the time and they are being looked after by health services.