Russian Settlement and Land Rise in Nordaustlandet, Spitsbergen

Abstract

Presents evidence of stable shoreline in the Murchisonfjorden region from 1957-1958 studies of a Russian hunting hut on Nordre Russoya. Age of the hut is determined as at least 100 years from settlement records and radiocarbon dating. It is located only 1.2 m above high-tide level and 0.8 m above the highest tides; hence the land has risen less than one meter in the past century. Any uplift that is occurring is probably balanced by the rise in sea level from glacier shrinkage.