Far out in the South Atlantic, more than 2,500km from the coast of South Africa, Bouvet Island is the loneliest chunk of land on Earth. With the exception of a few tiny rocks just offshore, its nearest neighbour is Antarctica, 1,750km to the south. Despite being so remote, and totally uninhabited¹, it is covered by some beautiful high-resolution imagery.

Bouvet Island is a dependency of Norway, although it was discovered by (and named after) a Frenchman, Jean Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier, in 1739. It’s a volcanic island, almost entirely covered by snow and ice — you can make out the central crater surrounded by cloud-covered peaks, with the highest, Olavtoppen, casting a shadow from the northeast.

Landing here is a very tricky prospect, unless your ship’s equipment includes a helicopter: the coastline mainly consists of high cliffs, with stormy seas foaming at the base and carving out sheer stacks of rock. In places, glaciers tumble over the edge in jagged blocks of ice, while submerged rocks lie in wait for unwary sailors. It’s no surprise that the island remains uninhabited, although a group of hardy Norwegians did spend a whole month there in the 1920s, confirming the nation’s claim on the island.

It seems Bouvet is still volcanically active. During the 1950s, an eruption on the west coast created a low shelf of lava — just about the only convenient flat spot on the island. The Norwegian Polar Institute installed a research station there in 1994 for use during field trips to the island, but by 2007 (and on Google’s pictures) no trace of it remained. The official story is that an earthquake caused a landslide that swept the portable building away — or broke the guy lines that anchored it, allowing gales to blow it into the sea — but bearing in mind that Bouvet Island was the setting for the 2004 film Alien vs Predator, the real explanation seems obvious…

One final mystery: can anyone tell us why, according to the map at Wikipedia, this headland is called Cape Circumcision?

Locations: Norway / Categories: Islands

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Artist Gustav Vigeland created each of the works in clay or plaster, then employed skilled craftsmen to create the final granite carvings or bronze or iron castings. The statues were mostly created between 1939 and 1949.

Most visitors arrive at the wrought-iron Main Gate, the first of five distinct areas of the Park which stretches for almost a kilometre in a layout also created by Vigeland.

The Main Gate leads to the 100m long Bridge which is adorned by 58 bronze sculptures – individuals or groups; men, women and children, including one of the most popular sculptures in the park – the little Angry Boy.

The circular area beneath the Bridge is the Children’s Playground – 8 bronzes of small children and one unborn child.

The Bridge leads to the Fountain, a large granite column topped by a group of men holding up a bronze bowl. This is surrounded by 60 bronze reliefs and tree statues depicting the life cycle of man.

Originally planned for the exterior of the Norwegian Parliament, the Fountain was one of Vigeland’s most monumental creations. It is surrounded by a mosaic floor which contains a 3km long labyrinth.

Beyond The Fountain is the Monolith Plateau. A set of circular stairs leads upwards to the centrepiece of the park, the 17m tall monolith carved from a single piece of granite and depicting 121 figures entwined and reaching toward the sky – intended to represent man’s need for the spiritual and divine.

Eight additional granite sculptures surround the Monolith and continue the depiction of human life’s eternal cycle, the theme that reaches its conclusion with the final section of the park, the Wheel of Life.

While specifically not erotic, that fact didn’t stop somebody attempting to censor the statues a couple of years ago. Fortunately Norwegians are generally of a more liberal mindset than that, and the park is celebrated as a cultural highlight; attracting more than a million visitors each year.

More information can be found at the Park’s website, and there are many excellent pictures at Panoramio.

Thanks to Steve Fernie and Gard Karlsen.

Locations: Norway / Categories: Monuments, Shadows, Structures, Theme Parks

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Designed by the architects Snøhetta, and opened in April this year, the Opera House features a huge sloping roof that runs past either side of the foyer, tapering all the way down to the water’s edge. Best of all, visitors can climb all over it (possibly thanks to Norway’s refusal to join the fun police – Er, I mean the European Union).

Italian marble and granite account for the striking whiteness of the exterior, but some sections are also clad in aluminium punched with spherical forms, and the interior is awash with dark, sculpted oak.

Unfortunately the Opera House wasn’t completely finished in these satellite images, so it’s worth having a look through this Flickr pool – as the building is truly stunning now that it’s done.

Arcspace.com has a good photo tour of the whole building, The Times did a story about the launch event, and there’s more at Wikipedia of course.

Thanks to James McKay.

Locations: Norway / Categories: Buildings, Watercraft

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According to gyrrus, who found the image of the whale:

it probably drifted onshore already dead … and was removed by the Norwegian Coast Guard a week or two after this image was taken.

This isn’t the only example of a dead whale found in Google’s imagery – all the way back in February 2006 we posted this image of a bleeding whale on a beach in South Africa.

We also previously featured a couple of pods of very-much-alive whales, as well as a roundup of some of the best fake whales across the globe.

Thanks to gyrrus.

Locations: Norway, South Africa / Categories: Animals

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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.

Locations: Norway / Categories: Aircraft, Animals, Buildings, Islands

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Locations: Norway / Categories: Watercraft

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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.

Locations: Norway / Categories: Watercraft

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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.

Locations: Norway / Categories: Movie Locations, Watercraft

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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

Locations: Norway / Categories: Shadows, Stadiums and Sport

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