Olonkinbyen

Svalbard & Jan Mayen
Olonkinbyen, Svalbard & Jan Mayen
Photo: Hannes Grobe, Alfred Wegener Institute CC BY-SA 2.5 source More images ↗

The sole settlement on the remote Norwegian Arctic island of Jan Mayen, Olonkinbyen sits on the eastern coast amid mountain terrain, with the island's highest southern peak just a few kilometres away. Named after Russian-Norwegian Arctic explorer Gennady Olonkin, who served on the island between 1928 and 1936, the hamlet has no permanent residents — only rotating military and meteorological personnel who staff the weather station, airfield, and scientific instruments including seismographs and a magnetometer.

  • Population14
  • Nearest water from center0.7 km
  • Nearest mountain from center1.7 km