Could these be the shadows of one or more dog sleds following old tracks through the snow on Svalbard, the northernmost part of Norway?

Unfortunately these are only medium resolution images¹ (which disappear in Google Maps if you get too close), but zooming right in on Google Earth certainly seems to add weight to the theory.

Perhaps they’re travelling from the nearby EISCAT radar station to the nearest town - the administrative centre of Svalbard, Longyearbyen?

Actually Longyearbyen is interesting too, as it’s the world’s northernmost town² and therefore has the world’s northernmost of quite a few things, including the world’s most northern bank, ATM, hospital, library, night club, bus station, taxi rank, tourist office, supermarket, school and not not forgetting pub!

Oh yeah, they’ve also got the world’s most northern permanent airport with scheduled flights - Svalbard Airport.

See Wikipedia for more on dog sleds, Longyearbyen, Svalbard and the world’s most northern things.

Thanks to Harry.

Yet another kind of Norwegian boat. This time, a great whopping blue cruise ship, which by my measurements (bear in mind that this was my thumb and forefinger), is about 220 metres long. Who can identify this one?

After the rather sedate 15 knot top-speed of the Christian Radich, here’s a couple of slightly more sprightly Norwegian vessels.

Firstly, a boat that surely must be going seriously fast to create such a huge wake. It also appears to have performed a rather sudden turn recently…

And secondly, this is one of the coolest wakes we’ve ever seen on GGSS. But what sort of vessel is making it? Some kind of hydrofoil perhaps? Answers on a postcard please…

Tusen takk Steve, Thomas and Michael.

This is the Christian Radich, a 62 metre full-rigged Norwegian sailing ship moored in her home port of Oslo. Launched in 1937, she served in WWII and to this day still embarks on transatlantic voyages. You can also charter her for business meetings… or piracy, whatever.

The Christian Radich even features in its own movie, Windjammer: The Voyage of the Christian Radich, made way back in 1958.

More about the Christian Radich at Wikipedia.

Thanks to William Eckley.

The Holmenkollen Ski Jump in Olso was first used way back 1892 and has since been extended 14 times to the current height of 60 metres. The 1952 Olympic games were hosted here.

In the satellite photo you can see the slope of the jump in its shadow and, as the photo was taken during summer, you can see grass growing on the lower part of the slope. The landing at the bottom fills with the melted snow and apparently people go swimming there when the weather is nice.

Thanks: Fredrik Rodland & woowoowoo