The patience of ice

By Flavia Tomaello, https://flaviatomaello.blog/, Instagram @flavia.tomaello

At the southern end of Spitsbergen there is a place where water seems to have learned the sculptor’s trade. No line remains definitive. The mountains change their contour as the glaciers recede, the coasts widen as the ice that imprisoned them for centuries disappears, and the icebergs undertake silent journeys towards the ocean carrying with them fragments of a history much older than human presence. Hornsund belongs to that category of landscapes whose true beauty lies in admitting that they are still happening.

The approach begins out to sea. Little by little the horizon stops being a uniform strip and rock walls appear that seem to rise directly from the water. The fjord, more than thirty kilometers long, cuts through southern Svalbard like a deep incision made by the advance of ancient glaciers during the last great ice age. Thousands of years later, when those enormous frozen masses began to retreat, the sea occupied the vacant space and gave rise to one of the most extraordinary natural settings of the archipelago.

The name Hornsund has accompanied these latitudes since 1610. It was the English explorer Jonas Poole who decided to name the place after finding a reindeer antler on the coast, an almost anecdotal detail that ended up forever identifying a landscape of monumental dimensions. Those first navigators arrived driven by the whaling trade and could hardly imagine that, four centuries later, the main interest would no longer be under the surface of the sea but in the behavior of the ice.

The light constantly transforms the relief. An instant before the glaciers appear white, almost opaque. Minutes later they acquire blue, silver or slightly turquoise reflections depending on the position of the sun and the density of the ice compressed for centuries. More than a dozen glaciers flow directly into the fjord. Each one slowly transports the snow accumulated inside the island until it turns into enormous walls that end up meeting the ocean.

It is impossible to anticipate the moment when one of those walls decides to shed part of its volume. First comes a dry sound, similar to the breaking of an enormous glass structure. Then a fracture appears that crosses the glacial front and, finally, thousands of tons of ice fall onto the water, raising waves that travel throughout the bay. The phenomenon lasts just a few seconds, although it represents the outcome of a process that began long before cities, maps or maritime routes existed.

As the boat moves forward, small blocks drift like pieces of a disassembled puzzle. Some are barely larger than a table. Others raise several meters above the surface and reveal a much larger mass hidden under the water. Ice forces us to modify even the perception of time. Here speed loses meaning. Everything happens slowly, although nothing remains still.

A bay that observes the future

Burgerbukta appears as a refuge within the fjord itself. The cove brings together glaciers, rugged mountains and a sea whose surface reflects every detail with an almost disturbing precision. The initial impression is that of an intact space, untouched by any intervention. However, this corner constitutes one of the most observed points of the contemporary Arctic.

Nearby is the Polish Hornsund Polar Station, inaugurated in 1957 during the International Geophysical Year and managed since then by the Institute of Geophysics of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Its presence turned the fjord into one of the most important research centers in the northern hemisphere to understand the evolution of the climate, the behavior of glaciers, ocean dynamics and the modifications experienced by polar ecosystems.

Records accumulated over decades reveal an accelerated transformation. Many glaciers that once reached the sea retreated hundreds of meters, exposing new surfaces of rock and sediment where tundra slowly begins to settle. The landscape that today seems eternal changes, in reality, with a rapidity that science documents year after year.

Paradoxically, these conclusions do not diminish the capacity for wonder. Quite the opposite. Knowing that each frozen wall has its own story makes the contemplation even more intense. Ice sheets preserve snow particles that fell hundreds or even thousands of years ago. Each crack registers tensions accumulated over decades. Each ocean current carries minerals detached from mountains that began to form when the continents occupied completely different positions.

The fauna also responds to this complex natural choreography. On the slopes, Svalbard reindeer appear feeding on vegetation so discreet that it almost goes unnoticed. Bearded seals rest on the coast while seabirds take advantage of the updrafts generated by the cliffs. Every now and then, a beluga breaks the surface with a barely perceptible movement before disappearing back under the water.

What is truly extraordinary about Hornsund does not lie solely in the spectacular nature of its glaciers. The fjord offers the rare possibility of attending a territory where geological, biological and climatic processes continue to develop before the visitor’s eyes. Here the landscape never functions as scenery. It is an active organism, capable of modifying its own appearance with the passing of the seasons.

When leaving Burgerbukta there remains a feeling that is difficult to explain. It is not the usual emotion that great panoramas arouse or the impact produced by immensity. What accompanies us during the return is another certainty, more intimate and lasting. There are places where nature retains enough authority to remember that the planet never stopped transforming. Hornsund belongs to that exceptional category. There the ice continues to write, slowly, a chapter whose last page is still far from being written.

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