Ny-Ålesund ("New Ålesund") is a small town in Oscar II Land on the island of Spitsbergen in Svalbard, Norway.

The company town is owned and operated by Kings Bay, which provides facilities for permanent research activities by 19 institutions from 11 countries.

Kongsfjord Telemetry Station opened in 1967 and the town gradually transformed into a research settlement, with the Norwegian Polar Institute having had a year-round presence since 1968.

As of 2021, 18 institutions from 11 countries have a more or less permanent presence in Ny-Ålesund[2] – five of them with year-round activity, the remaining are primarily present during the spring-summer-autumn field season.

Ny-Ålesund is located on the north shore of Brøggerhalvøya, a peninsula of Oscar II Land on the island of Spitsbergen.

If the land owned by Kings Bay is used to define the town, it would have an area of 300 square kilometers (120 sq mi), which would encapsulate both the north and south shores of Kongsfjorden.

Kings Bay retains ownership of all land in the area, although the mining claims are held by Store Norske.

[5]: 10  The claims were sold to Peter Brandal of Ålesund in 1916, who dispatched two ships and sixty men to Kings Bay for the summer of 1916.

[5]: 38  The labor union, Kings Bay Arbeiderforening, was founded in 1925, although many of the workers had previously ad hoc organized themselves.

Amundsen and Umberto Nobile's airship Norge left Ny-Ålesund and traveled via the North Pole to Alaska.

[6]: 103  After two short skirmishes, Nobile's airship Italia left Ny-Ålesund on 23 May 1928 to reach the North Pole, but crashed on the return.

Its most elaborate building, Nordpolhotellet, opened on 3 September 1939, although the town was abandoned just days later because of the outbreak of the Second World War.

[5]: 87 In 1956 Parliament approved a major upgrade to the mining facilities, which would cost NOK 20 million,[5]: 96  in the hope that production could reach 200,000 tonnes.

[5]: 167  In what became the Kings Bay Affair, Gerhardsen's Third Cabinet was ultimately forced to resign in August 1963,[5]: 171  and all mining in Ny-Ålesund was terminated from 5 November 1963.

For the meanwhile, Kings Bay was to retain the equipment and facilities in case later technological development would allow for safer mining operations.

The Royal Norwegian Council for Scientific and Industrial Research took over daily management of Ny-Ålesund until the telemetry station was closed in 1974.

[5]: 202  Kings Bay also generated revenue from selling fuel, supplies and air transport to shrimp fishers.

[5]: 206  By 1977 Kings Bay stuck a deal by the then state-owned Store Norske to sell all its claims, although it kept the property rights around Ny-Ålesund.

[5]: 181  During the early 1980s a plan for cultural heritage management was developed, which included the renovation of several older houses.

Compared to other locations at such a latitude, Ny-Ålesund research station provides a well-developed infrastructure in terms of facilities, laboratories, access and communication.

[13] Representatives for the participating institutions meet in the Ny-Ålesund Science Managers' Committee (NySMAC) twice per year.

[15] The Americans have a presence in the National Science Foundation funded group known as Svalbard REU, which conducts research on the surrounding glaciers annually.

Off-road motorized transport is prohibited on bare ground, but snowmobiles are used extensively during winter—both for commercial and recreational activities.

[19] To reach the Zeppelin Station, located at 485-meter (1,591 ft) above mean sea level, there is an aerial tramway that runs up Zeppelinfjellet.

It features a 30-by-75-meter (98 by 246 ft) apron and aerodrome flight information service, but lacks a terminal and hangar facilities.

[20] Kings Bay charters Lufttransport to fly two to four weekly flights using a Dornier 228 aircraft to Svalbard Airport, Longyear.

[23] From the implementation of the Svalbard Undersea Cable System in 2003 Ny-Ålesund had a twin 155 megabits per second microwave connection to Longyearbyen.

It sits amid the richest fauna and flora areas of Svalbard, especially along the rim of Kongsfjord and particularly in its innermost parts.

[27] The climate is mild for its northern latitude, due to the North Atlantic Current, which flows northwards from mainland Norway up the west coast of Spitsbergen.

It also receives heat from the predominant high pressure fronts that bring warm air from the Atlantic to the Barents Sea.