Jan Mayen (Urban East Norwegian:[jɑnˈmɑ̀ɪən])[1] is aNorwegianvolcanic island in theArctic Ocean with no permanent population. It is 55 km (34 mi) long (southwest-northeast) and 377 km2 (146 sq mi) in area, partly covered byglaciers (an area of 114.2 km2 (44.1 sq mi) around theBeerenberg volcano). It has two parts: larger northeast Nord-Jan and smaller Sør-Jan, linked by a 2.5 km (1.6 mi) wideisthmus. It lies 600 km (370 mi) northeast ofIceland (495 km [305 mi] NE ofKolbeinsey), 500 km (310 mi) east of centralGreenland, and 900 km (560 mi) northwest ofVesterålen,Norway.
The island is mountainous, the highest summit being the Beerenberg volcano in the north. The isthmus is the location of the two largest lakes of the island,Sørlaguna (South Lagoon) andNordlaguna (North Lagoon). A third lake is called Ullerenglaguna (Ullereng Lagoon). Jan Mayen was formed by theJan Mayen hotspot and is defined by geologists as amicrocontinent.[2]
Although administered separately, in theISO 3166-1 standard, Jan Mayen andSvalbard are collectively designated asSvalbard and Jan Mayen, with the two-letter country code "SJ". It was also given the web domain of.sj. However, the domain is not in use and Norway's.no is used in its place.
Jan Mayen Island has one exploitable natural resource,gravel, from a site located at Trongskaret[clarification needed]. Other than this, economic activity is limited to providing services for employees ofNorway'sradio communications andmeteorological stations located on the island. Jan Mayen has one unpavedairstrip,Jan Mayensfield, which is about 1,585 m (5,200 ft) long. The 124.1 km (77.1 mi) coast has noports orharbors, only offshore anchorages.
There are importantfishing resources, and the existence of Jan Mayen establishes a largeexclusive economic zone (EEZ) around it. Norway has asserted a 200-nautical-mile (370-kilometre) EEZ around the island since 1980 encompassing more than a quarter of a million square kilometers. TheNorwegian Coast Guard is responsible for conducting fishery and other maritime surveillance and enforcement in these waters.[5]
Norway has found large deposits ofminerals along theMid-Atlantic Ridge between Jan Mayen and southern Svalbard/Bear Island,[6] includingcopper,zinc,cobalt,gold andsilver. The expeditions have also discovered high concentrations oflithium andscandium. In total, it is estimated that the amount of copper could amount to 21.7 million tonnes, but other estimates are around 7 million tonnes. License for deep sea mining is now under consideration.[7]
A dispute between Norway andDenmark regarding the fishing exclusion zone between Jan Mayen andGreenland was settled in 1988 granting Denmark the greater area of sovereignty. Geologists suspect significant deposits of petroleum and natural gas lie below Jan Mayen's surroundingseafloors.[8]
The snow-coveredBeerenberg volcano beyond the coastal hills
Jan Mayen Island isan integral part of the Kingdom of Norway. Since 1995, Jan Mayen has been administered by theCounty Governor (statsforvalter) of thenorthern Norwegian county ofNordland, to which it is closest. However, some authority over Jan Mayen has been assigned to the station commander of theNorwegian Defence Logistics Organisation [nn;no], a branch of theNorwegian Armed Forces.[4] In late-2025, the Norwegian defence ministry presented a draft proposal for the possible expansion of military police authority on the island. According to the proposal, under the "Military Police Act" a “military area can be established and enforced on the island – as an officer in the Armed Forces, the station commander there will also have authority to intervene to maintain security and prevent or stop law violations.”[9]
The only inhabitants on the island are personnel working for the Norwegian Armed Forces and theNorwegian Meteorological Institute. Eighteen people spend the winter on the island, but thepopulation may roughly double (35) during the summer, when heavy maintenance is performed. Personnel serve either six months or one year and are exchanged twice a year in April and October. The support crew, including mechanics, cooks, and a nurse, are among the military personnel. The military personnel operated aLoran-Cbase until it closed at the end of 2015.[10][11] Both the LORAN transmitter and themeteorological station are located a few kilometres away from the settlementOlonkinbyen (Olonkin Town), where all personnel live.
Transport to the island is provided byC-130 Hercules military transport planes operated by theRoyal Norwegian Air Force which land atJan Mayensfield's gravel runway. The planes fly in fromBodø Main Air Station eight times a year. Since the airport does not have any instrument landing capabilities, good visibility is required, and it is not uncommon for the planes to have to return toBodø Airport, two hours away, without landing. For heavy goods, freight ships visit during the summer, but since there are no harbours, the ships must anchor. Tourists arrive with cruise ships which are allowed to bring passengers onshore if weather permits.[12]
The island has no indigenous population but is assigned theISO 3166-1 alpha-2country code SJ (together withSvalbard). It uses the internet country codetop-level domain (ccTLD).no (.sj is allocated but not used)[13] and data code JN. Jan Mayen has telephone and internet connection over satellite, using Norwegian telephone numbers (country code 47). Itsamateur radiocall sign prefix is JX; the island is occasionally the venue for aDXpedition. It has apostal code, NO-8099 JAN MAYEN, but delivery time varies, especially during the winter.
There are noexploitable resources on Jan Mayen, except fish in the surrounding waters of the Island and gravel. Theeconomic activity is limited to the operation of the station that is staffed by the NorwegianCyberdefence and theNorwegian Meteorological Institute. There has also been established a reference station forEGNOS.[14] There is also a reference station for the satellite navigation systemGalileo on Jan Mayen.[15] There was also an earlier Jan MayenLORAN-CTransmitter, but thetransmitter is now decommissioned and demolished.
Jan Mayen Radio was a Norwegian coastalradio station on Jan Mayen. The first radio station was built in 1921 on a part of the island called "Eldsmetten - Norwegian" on the eastern side of the Island. The radiostation consisted of a 3 kWTelefunkenspark-gap transmitter and a 55 m (180 ft) wooden radiomast. Fearing a German occupation, the station was destroyed in September 1940, and the crew was sent toIceland.
In 1941 a new radio station was constructed on the western side of the island, it was moved to aplateau above. In 1962 this station was again moved to "Helenesanden - Norwegian" about 3 km (1.9 mi) north from theNorwegian army'sLORAN-station.
In 1984 the station was moved to the Norwegian army's station. In 1989 there was aVHF-receiver installed, and later in October 1994 the local control of the radio station was terminated. Before the local control was terminated a MF-Digital-Selcall-receiver was installed and controlled remotely from Bodø-Radio.[16] The station is still (Jan 2024) controlled remotely viasatellite, but can be taken in local control by a disconnection against Eik Satellite Earth Station inRogalandNorway.[17][18][19]
Between the fifth and ninth centuries (400–900 AD), numerous communities of monks originating in Ireland (Papar) navigated throughout the north Atlantic in leather boats, exploring and sometimes settling in distant islands where their monastic communities could be separated from close contact with others. Strong indicators exist of their presence in theFaroe Islands andIceland before the arrival of theVikings, and medieval Gaelic chronicles such as the famousVoyage of Saint Brendan the Abbot testify to the extensive interest in exploration at the time.
A modern-day trans-Atlantic journey proved the ability of the early navigators to reach all lands of the north Atlantic even further from Ireland than Jan Mayen – and, given favourable winds, at a speed roughly equal to that of modern yachts.[20] Though quite feasible, there is nevertheless no direct physical trace of medieval landings or settlement on Jan Mayen.
The land namedSvalbarð ("cold coast") by the Vikings in the early medieval bookLandnámabók may have been Jan Mayen (instead ofSpitsbergen, renamedSvalbard by the Norwegians in modern times); the distance from Iceland toSvalbarð mentioned in this book is two days' sailing (with favorable winds), consistent with the approximate 550 km (340 mi) to Jan Mayen and not with the minimum 1,550 km (960 mi) to Spitsbergen.[21] However much Jan Mayen may have been known in Europe at that time, it was subsequently forgotten for some centuries.
In the 17th century, many claims of the island's rediscovery were made, spurred by the rivalry on the Arctic whaling grounds, and the island received many names. According toThomas Edge, an early 17th-century whaling captain who was often inaccurate, "William [sic] Hudson" discovered the island in 1608 and named it "Hudson's Touches" (or "Tutches"). However, the well-known explorerHenry Hudson could only have come by on his voyage in 1607 (if he had made an illogical detour) and he made no mention of it in his journal.[21]
According toWilliam Scoresby (1820: p. 154), referring to the mistaken belief that the Dutch had discovered the island in 1611,Hull whalers discovered the island "about the same time" and named it "Trinity Island". Muller (1874: pp. 190–191) took this to mean they had come upon Jan Mayen in 1611 or 1612, which was repeated by many subsequent authors. There were, in fact, no Hull whalers in either of these years, the first Hull whaling expedition having been sent to the island only in 1616 (see below). As with the previous claim made by Edge, there is no cartographical or written proof for this supposed discovery.[22]
During the Golden Age of Dutch exploration and discovery (c. 1590s–1720s)
A map of Jan Mayen during the Golden Age of Dutch exploration and discovery (c. 1590s–1720s). This is a typical map created by Dutch cartographers from theGolden Age of Netherlandish cartography.
The first verified discoveries of Jan Mayen, by three separate expeditions, occurred in the summer of 1614, probably within one month of each other. The Dutchman Fopp Gerritsz, whilst in command of a whaling expedition sent out by the Englishman John Clarke, ofDunkirk, claimed (in 1631) to have discovered the island on 28 June and named it "Isabella".[22][23][24] In January theNoordsche Compagnie (Northern Company), modelled on theDutch East India Company, had been established to support Dutch whaling in the Arctic. Two of its ships, financed by merchants fromAmsterdam andEnkhuizen, reached Jan Mayen in July 1614.
The captains of these ships—Jan Jacobszoon May van Schellinkhout (after whom the island was ultimately named) on theGouden Cath (Golden Cat), and Jacob de Gouwenaer on theOrangienboom (Orange Tree)—named itMr. Joris Eylant after the Dutch cartographerJoris Carolus who was on board and mapped the island. The captains acknowledged that a third Dutch ship, theCleyn Swaentgen (Little Swan) captained by Jan Jansz Kerckhoff and financed byNoordsche Compagnie shareholders fromDelft, had already been at the island when they arrived. They had assumed the latter, who named the islandMaurits Eylandt (or Mauritius) afterMaurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange, would report their discovery to theStates General. However, the Delft merchants had decided to keep the discovery secret and returned in 1615 to hunt for their own profit. The ensuing dispute was only settled in 1617, though both companies were allowed to whale at Jan Mayen in the meantime.[22]
In 1615, the English whalerRobert Fotherby went ashore. Apparently thinking he had made a new discovery, he named the island "Sir Thomas Smith's Island" and the volcano "Mount Hakluyt".[21][25] On a map of c. 1634,Jean Vrolicq renamed the islandÎle de Richelieu.[26]
Jan Mayen first appeared onWillem Jansz Blaeu's 1620 edition map of Europe, originally published by Cornelis Doedz in 1606. Blaeu, who lived in Amsterdam, named it "Jan Mayen" after captainJan Jacobszoon May van Schellinkhout of the Amsterdam-financedGouden Cath. Blaeu made the first detailed map of the island in his famous "Zeespiegel" atlas of 1623, establishing its current name.[22]
Road along the west coast, about 500 metres (1,600 ft) off the station"HOLLENDERHAUGEN. HER HVILER TAPRE HOLLANDSKE MENN." Old cross on the grave of seven Dutchmen, reading "The Dutch men's hill. Here rest brave Dutch men".
From 1615 to 1638, Jan Mayen was used as a whaling base by the DutchNoordsche Compagnie, which had been given a monopoly on whaling in the Arctic regions by the States General in 1614. Only two ships, one from theNoordsche Compagnie, and the other from the Delft merchants, were off Jan Mayen in 1615.
The following year a score of vessels were sent to the island. TheNoordsche Compagnie sent eight ships escorted by three warships under Jan Jacobsz. Schrobop; while the Delft merchants sent up five ships under Adriaen Dircksz. Leversteyn, son of one of the above merchants.[27] There were also two ships from Dunkirk sent by John Clarke, as well as a ship each from London and Hull.
Heertje Jansz, master of theHope, of Enkhuizen, wrote a day-by-day account of the season. The ships took two weeks to reach Jan Mayen, arriving early in June. On 15 June they met the two English ships, which Schrobop allowed to remain, on condition they gave half their catch to the Dutch.[28] The ships from Dunkirk were given the same conditions. By late July the first ship had left with a full cargo ofwhale oil; the rest left early in August, several filled with oil.[29]
That year 200 men were seasonally living and working on the island at six temporary whaling stations (spread along the northwest coast). During the first decade of whaling, more than ten ships visited Jan Mayen each year, while in the second period (1624 and later) five to ten ships were sent. With the exception of a few ships from Dunkirk, which came to the island in 1617 and were either driven away or forced to give a third of their catch to the Dutch,[28] only the Dutch and merchants from Hull[30] sent up ships to Jan Mayen from 1616 onward. In 1624 ten wooden houses were built inSouth Bay. About this time the Dutch appear to have abandoned the temporary stations consisting of tents of sail and crude furnaces, replacing them with two semi-permanent stations with wooden storehouses and dwellings and large brick furnaces, one in the above-mentioned South Bay and the other in theNorth Bay. In 1628 two forts were built to protect the stations.[22] Among the sailors active at Jan Mayen was the later admiralMichiel Adriaensz de Ruyter. In 1633, at the age of 26, he was for the first time listed as an officer aboardde Groene Leeuw (The Green Lion). He again went to Jan Mayen in 1635, aboard the same ship.
In 1632 theNoordsche Compagnie expelled the Danish-employed Basque whalers from Spitsbergen. In revenge, the latter sailed to Jan Mayen, where the Dutch had left for the winter, to plunder the Dutch equipment and burn down the settlements and factories. Captain Outger Jacobsz ofGrootebroek was asked to stay the next winter (1633/34) on Jan Mayen with six shipmates to defend the island. While a group with the same task survived the winter on Spitsbergen, all seven on Jan Mayen died ofscurvy ortrichinosis (from eating raw polar bear meat) combined with the harsh conditions.
During the first phase of whaling the hauls were generally good, some exceptional. For example, Mathijs Jansz. Hoepstock caught 44 whales inHoepstockbukta in 1619, which produced 2,300 casks of whale oil. During the second phase the hauls were much lower. While 1631 turned out to be a very good season, the following year, due to the weather and ice, only eight whales were caught. In 1633 eleven ships managed to catch just 47 whales; while a meager 42 were caught by the same number in 1635.[22] Thebowhead whale was locally hunted to near-extinction around 1640 (approximately 1000 had been killed and processed on the island),[22] at which time Jan Mayen was abandoned and stayed uninhabited for two and a half centuries.
Map of settlements on Jan MayenTraditional signpost with directions to civilization on Jan Mayen station
During theInternational Polar Year 1882–1883 theAustro-Hungarian North Pole Expedition stayed one year at Jan Mayen. The expedition performed extensive mapping of the area, their maps being of such quality that they were used until the 1950s. TheAustrian polar station on Jan Mayen Island was built and equipped in 1882 fully atCount Wilczek's own expense.
Polar bears appear on Jan Mayen,[31] although in diminished numbers compared with earlier times. Between 1900 and 1920, there were a number of Norwegian trappers spending winters on Jan Mayen, huntingArctic foxes in addition to some polar bears. But the exploitation soon made the profits decline, and the hunting ended. Polar bears in this region of the Arctic are genetically distinguishable from those living elsewhere.[32]
TheLeague of Nations gave Norway jurisdiction over the island, and in 1921 Norway opened the first meteorological station.[33] The Norwegian Meteorological Institute annexed the middle part of the island for Norway in 1922 and the whole island in 1926 whenHallvard Devold was head of the weather observations base on the island. On 27 February 1930, the island was madede jure a part of the Kingdom of Norway.
DuringWorld War II, continental Norway wasinvaded and occupied by Germany in spring 1940. The four-man team on Jan Mayen stayed at their posts and in an act of defiance began sending their weather reports to the United Kingdom instead of Norway. The British codenamed Jan Mayen 'Island X' and attempted to reinforce it with troops to counteract anyGerman attack.
On 8 November 1940 the Norwegian patrol boatHNoMS Fridtjof Nansen ran aground onNansenflua, one of the islands' many uncharted lava reefs, and the 68-man crew abandoned ship and joined the Norwegian team on shore. The British expedition commander, prompted by the loss of the gunboat, decided to abandon Jan Mayen until the following spring and radioed for a rescue ship. Within a few days a ship arrived and evacuated the four Norwegians and their would-be reinforcements, after demolishing the weather station to prevent it from falling into German hands.
The Germans attempted to land a weather team on the island on 16 November 1940; the Germannaval trawler carrying the team crashed on the rocks just off Jan Mayen after a patrolling Britishdestroyer had picked them up on radar. The detection was not by chance, as the German plan had been compromised from the beginning with British wireless interceptors of the Radio Security Service following the communications of theAbwehr (the German Intelligence service) concerning the operation, and the destroyer had been waiting. Most of the crew struggled ashore and were taken prisoner by a landing party from the destroyer.[33][34]
The Allies returned to the island on 10 March 1941, when the Norwegian shipVeslekari, escorted by the patrol boatHonningsvaag, dropped 12 Norwegian weathermen on the island. The team's radio transmissions soon betrayed its presence to theAxis, and German planes from Norway began to bomb and strafe Jan Mayen whenever weather permitted, but did little damage. Soon supplies and reinforcements arrived, and even some anti-aircraft guns, giving the island a garrison of a few dozen weathermen and soldiers. By 1941, Germany had given up hope of evicting the Allies from the island and the constant air raids stopped.
On 7 August 1942, a GermanFocke-Wulf Fw 200 "Condor", probably on a mission to bomb the station, crashed into the nearby mountainside of Danielssenkrateret in fog, killing its crew of nine,[35] and at an unknown date another German plane with four crew members crashed on the southwest side of the island, this crash only becoming public knowledge when the crash site was discovered in 1950.[36] In 1943, the Americans established a radio locating station named Atlantic City in the north to try to locateGerman radio bases in Greenland.
After the war, the meteorological station was located at Atlantic City, but moved in 1949 to a new location. Radio Jan Mayen also served as an important radio station for ship traffic in theArctic Ocean. In 1959NATO started building theLORAN-C network in sites on the Atlantic Ocean; one of the transmitters was to be on Jan Mayen. By 1961 the new military installations, including a new airfield, were operational.
For some time scientists doubted that theBeerenberg volcano would become active, but in 1970 it erupted for about three weeks, adding another 3 km2 (1.2 sq mi) of land area to the island. It also erupted in 1973 and 1985. During an eruption, the sea temperature around the island may increase from just above freezing to about 30 °C (86 °F).
Iceland and Norway had a brief territorial dispute over the island from 1979-1980, with the dispute being resolved with Iceland recognising Norwegian sovereignty over the island.[37]
Historic stations and huts on the island are Hoyberg, Vera, Olsbu, Puppebu (cabin), Gamlemetten or Gamlestasjonen (the old weather station), Jan Mayen Radio, Helenehytta, Margarethhytta, and Ulla (a cabin at the foot of the Beerenberg).
A regulation dating from 2010 renders the island a nature reserve under Norwegian jurisdiction.[38] The aim of this regulation is to ensure the preservation of a pristine Arctic island and the marine life nearby, including the ocean floor. Landings at Jan Mayen can be done by boat. However, this is permitted only at a small part of the island, named Båtvika (Boat Bay).
As there is no commercial airline operating at the island, one cannot get there by plane except bychartering one. Permission for landings by a charter plane has to be obtained in advance. Permission to stay on the island has to be obtained in advance, and is generally limited to a few days (or even hours). Putting up a tent or setting up camp is prohibited. There is a separate regulation for the stay of foreigners.[39]
Panoramic photo of the northwest coast of Jan Mayen
Jan Mayen consists of two geographically distinct parts. Nord-Jan has a round shape and is dominated by the 2,277 m (7,470 ft) highBeerenberg volcano with its largeice cap (114.2 km2 or 44 sq mi), which can be divided into twenty individual outlet glaciers. The largest of those isSørbreen, with an area of 15 km2 (5.8 sq mi) and a length of 8.7 km (5.41 mi). South-Jan is narrow, comparatively flat and unglaciated. Its highest elevation isRudolftoppen at 769 m (2,523 ft). The station and living quarters are located on South-Jan. The island lies at the northern end of theJan Mayen Microcontinent. Themicrocontinent was originally part of theGreenland Plate, but now forms part of theEurasian Plate.
Jan Mayen has an oceanicpolar climate with aKöppen classification ofET, sometimes reckoned asEM (maritime polar). Jan Mayen is situated in between the coldEast Greenland Current to the west and the warmGulf Stream to the east of the island, and is the only landmass in the northern hemisphere where warm and cold ocean currents meet.[41] The surrounding seas makes seasonal temperature variations very small considering the latitude of the island, with ranges from around 6 °C (43 °F) in August to −4 °C (25 °F) in March, but also makes the island extremely cloudy with little sunshine even during the continuous polar day. The deep snow cover prevents anypermafrost from developing. As a result of warming, the 1991−2020 temperature normal shows a mean annual temperature 1.9 °C (3.4 °F) warmer than during 1961−1990, pushing the annual temperature above freezing.
Climate data for Jan Mayen 1991–2020 (10 m, extremes 1921–2023)
Jan Mayen is featured as aneaster egg in several grand strategy video games published byParadox Interactive, such asEuropa Universalis IV andVictoria 3. InEuropa Universalis IV, typing "bearhaslanded" into the command console will spawn Jan Mayen as a country in a random location. Players can also specify where Jan Mayen will spawn by including a province ID in the command.[47] InHearts of Iron IV, also published by Paradox Interactive, players can play as Jan Mayen controlled by the polar bear "Grand Admiral Johan Mayan" by completing an elaborate easter egg chain as Poland during the Second World War.[48] InVictoria 2, set in the nineteenth century, certain decisions will see polar bears take charge of Jan Mayen's military.[49]
The 2022 filmTales of Jan Mayen, directed by Hugo Pettit, documents the recreation of the 1921 British expedition to the summit of Mount Beerenberg.[51][52]
^Appleby, John C. "Conflict, cooperation and competition: The rise and fall of the Hull whaling trade during the seventeenth century".The Northern Mariner, XVIII No. 2, (April 2008), 23-59.
^Michael Jones and Kenneth Olwig. 2008.Nordic Landscapes: Region and Belonging on the Northern Edge of Europe, University of Minnesota Press,ISBN0-8166-3914-0,ISBN978-0-8166-3914-4
