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Tuesday 3 November 2026No. 9Report

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Research

Kartverket observatory in Ny-Ålesund is complete after 15 years

Svalbard WirePublished 14 OctoberReport by the Wire.

Amundsen house, red and white wooden houses with a radio mast beside a gravel road in Ny-Ålesund, with mountains and a glacier behind.
Amundsen house in Ny-Ålesund, beside a gravel road with mountains behind. File picture, August 2012. Photo: Bjoertvedt, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons.

NRK said on 16 October, citing NTB, that the geodetic observatory of Kartverket (the Norwegian Mapping Authority) in Ny-Ålesund is complete after 15 years of development. NRK said on 16 October, citing NTB, that the laser at the Ny-Ålesund observatory is a Satellite Laser Ranging facility, known as SLR. NRK said the SLR facility makes the Kartverket installation one of the most complete geodetic Earth observatories in the world.

NRK reported that Kartverket said in a press release that the laser points at satellites, which reflect the pulse back. The Kartverket station can then measure the satellites' height with high precision. NRK said Kartverket described this as basic to satellite-based services such as GPS, Galileo, EGNOS and Copernicus.

NRK quoted Ole Johan Ekeli Klingan, senior engineer at Kartverket. Klingan said the laser makes it possible to follow satellites as they pass over the North Pole. Klingan said the laser also allows more accurate measurements of ice thickness and sea level.

NRK said the observatory can, with various equipment, measure parts of the Earth from distant stars to the Earth's centre. NRK also reported remarks by Bjørnar Skjæran, the minister for local government and regional development. Skjæran said the observatory is the northernmost and perhaps the most important in a large international network.

Skjæran said Norway can be proud of the observatory. Skjæran said the observatory is Norway's most important contribution to accurate navigation and positioning. As background, the Barents Observer reported on 8 August 2017 that Nasa had agreed to build and install a satellite laser ranging facility at the observatory.

Per Erik Opseth, head of Kartverket's Geodesy Division, said the agreement would make the observatory complete. The Barents Observer said the station would be the northernmost of its kind in the world. The Barents Observer gave the cost of the observatory as NOK 300 million.

The Barents Observer gave the planned opening of the observatory as June 2018.

Coverage: NRK, The Barents Observer

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