Sør-Spitsbergen

Sør-Spitsbergen National Park was established in 1973 and takes in the southern end of the island of Spitsbergen, in the Svalbard archipelago, including the territories of Wedel Jarlsberg Land, Torell Land and Sørkapp Land. At 13,286 km² it is Norway's largest national park, although only 5,141 km² are land: the rest is sea.

Large expanses of the park are covered by glaciers and by permanent snow and ice, and rugged mountains and deep fjords emerge between them. Hornsund, in the south, is one of the most spectacular fjords in the archipelago and has housed a permanent Polish polar research station since 1957, one of the park's few stable human presences.

It is also a bird sanctuary: four separate bird reserves lie off its southern and western coasts — Sørkapp, Dunøyene, Isøyane and Olsholmen — and the area as a whole hosts large seabird colonies, as well as being a breeding ground for common eider and barnacle goose. The Isøyane islands have been designated a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention since 1985. The marine and coastal fauna includes polar bear, walrus and several seal species.