Poland joined the treaty on September 2, 1931. Today, it operates a year-round polar station, four seasonal university stations and a logistics and research center on the Norwegian Arctic archipelago.
Around 100 Polish scientists now work on Svalbard each year, according to Prof. Piotr Głowacki of the Polish Academy of Sciences' Institute of Geophysics, a longtime former head of the Polish Polar Station Hornsund.
"We have a strong position in polar research on Svalbard today," Głowacki told Poland's PAP news agency.
Poland's main permanent base is the Stanisław Siedlecki Polish Polar Station Hornsund, on the southern part of Spitsbergen, Svalbard’s largest island. It conducts research throughout the year and is managed by the Institute of Geophysics.
Polish universities also operate four seasonal stations. The newest addition to the country’s Arctic infrastructure is the BERA Logistics and Research Centre in Longyearbyen, Svalbard’s main settlement.
It began operating in 2024 and is run by a consortium of seven Polish research institutions led by the University of Silesia in Katowice, southern Poland.
The Svalbard Treaty was signed in Paris on February 9, 1920, and came into force in 1925.
It recognizes Norwegian sovereignty over the archipelago, including Bear Island, while granting nationals of treaty states equal treatment in specified areas of economic activity.
It also restricts military uses of the territory, including the establishment of naval bases and fortifications.
Głowacki said Poland’s accession gave its polar research a decisive early impetus.
"Polish polar science would not have reached this level without joining the treaty in 1931," he said. "Even before World War II, it gave us the impulse to organize exploratory expeditions, and later, once we had a permanent station, Spitsbergen became a training ground for generations of Polish polar researchers."
The first Polish national expedition followed in 1932, when scientists traveled to Bear Island during the International Polar Year.
An expedition to Spitsbergen in 1934 mapped previously little-known parts of the island, introducing Polish names including Mount Piłsudski, Mount Skłodowska and Mount Copernicus.
Two years later, a Polish team crossed Spitsbergen from north to south.
A Polish research expedition to Spitsbergen in 1936. Photo: National Digital Archives, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
After World War II, Poland began planning a permanent presence. A reconnaissance expedition sailed for Spitsbergen in 1956, and the Polish Polar Station at Hornsund was established the following year.
During the Cold War, the station also provided Polish scientists with rare opportunities for direct contact with Western researchers and technology at a time when scientific exchange across the Iron Curtain was restricted.
Głowacki recalled that Polish and American scientists met at Hornsund as part of cooperation between the Polish Academy of Sciences' Space Research Centre and NASA.
Today, much of the research carried out on Svalbard focuses on the rapid environmental changes taking place in the Arctic, including glaciers, permafrost, weather and marine ecosystems.
Norway has tightened environmental and research regulations on the archipelago in recent years, including rules governing scientists’ access to some areas and coordination intended to prevent unnecessary duplication of research.
Longyearbyen, the world's northernmost settlement on Spitsbergen Island in Norway's Svalbard archipelago. Photo: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Russia also maintains a permanent presence on Svalbard.
Despite the political tensions between Russia and European countries due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and ongoing aggression against its neighbors, Głowacki said practical cooperation can remain necessary in the Arctic.
"In polar regions, where rescue services may not be available, you depend on nature and on yourselves," he said. "So if someone needs help, we don’t look at their nationality."
(rt/gs)
Source: naukawpolsce.pl