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Norway NorwayIsland

Kongsøya

200 km² of land in the Barents Sea.

When to go

Kongsøya seen from space, cut out from the sea (Sentinel-2)
N 5 km

Satellite: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2017 by EOX (CC BY 4.0). Outline and points © OpenStreetMap contributors / Natural Earth. North up.

In numbers

200km²

Area

122km

Coastline

320m

Highest point

0

People

2°C

Warmest sea

August

851km

To the mainland

When to go to Kongsøya

Good all year round.

The sea is warmest in August (2 °C) and coolest in February (-1 °C). The water never reaches 21 °C: bring a wetsuit.

Sea temperature (the water level) Air: night low to afternoon high Wet days

Averages 1991–2020. Sea: NOAA OISST, the water within 35 km of the coast. Air, rain and sun: NASA POWER. Best months weigh warm afternoons (23–30 °C), sea of 24 °C or more and few wet days.

Island of Svalbard

Kongsøya is an island in Norway. It covers 200 km², with 122 km of coastline. Its highest point rises to 320 m. Nobody lives on it. The nearest mainland is 851 km away.

Read more on Wikipedia

Getting there

  • 851 km from the mainlanddistance to the nearest continental coast

Plan the trip

Ferries, stays and things to do

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Kongsøya in our other atlases

Everything Coastya, Peakyas, Lakeyas and Cascadyas know about what lies inside Kongsøya, each with its own numbers.

  • 5mountainsPeakyas

5 mountains

on Peakyas, the mountain atlas

  1. Sjögrenfjellet
  2. Johnsenberget
  3. Hårfagrehaugen
  4. Retziusfjellet
  5. Tordenskjoldberget

Open Peakyas ↗

The shape of the land.

On average the island stands 48 m above the sea. 96 % of it is below 200 m.

  • 67 %0–50 m
  • 29 %50–200 m
  • 4 %200–500 m

Share of the island's area in each altitude band, from the Copernicus DEM (30 m, read at 30–240 m on large islands).

Size, for real

Next to islands you may know.

Kongsøya200 km²
Malta247 km²
Madeira Island742 km²

20 km

All outlines drawn to the same scale (Natural Earth and OpenStreetMap).

Month by month

The weather on the island.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Afternoon high (°C)-9-10-12-9-30221-2-5-7
Night low (°C)-13-14-17-13-6-1110-4-8-11
Sea (°C)-1-1-1-1-1-11210-1-1
Rain (mm)463841322833455457566053
Wet days121011878101213141415
Sun h/day—1.44.59.210.09.25.62.60.90.0——
Wind (km/h)272625231917161822252827

Averages 1991–2020 for the ~55 km NASA POWER cell over the island; the sea from NOAA OISST.

Recent years

Warmer and cooler years at sea.

Each month's sea temperature compared with its 1991–2020 average, in degrees.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
2020−0.5−0.4−0.4−0.3−0.6−0.9−0.6+2.1+1.6+0.8+0.4−0.3
2021−0.3−0.4−0.4−0.4−0.6−0.9−0.7+0.2+0.1−0.1−0.5−0.7
2022−0.5−0.4−0.4−0.4−0.5+0.4+2.6+2.3+1.0+1.0+0.6+0.3
2023−0.2−0.2−0.3−0.4−0.6−0.6+2.2+2.1+1.6+0.2−0.6−0.6
2024−0.5−0.4−0.4−0.4−0.5+0.3+1.8+3.4+1.9+1.2+0.9±0.0
2025−0.5−0.3−0.3−0.3−0.4±0.0+2.4+2.1+1.8+1.8+1.0+0.2

+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual

About these numbers

Names, area, populationWikidata (Q1137503) · CC0
Outline© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
Sea temperatureNOAA OISST v2.1 · 1991–2020
ClimateNASA POWER · 1991–2020
Relief, 3D modelCopernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
Beaches, ports, lighthouses, trails© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
TownsGeoNames · CC BY 4.0
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Beaches, mountains, lakes and waterfallsPeakyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit
lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit
mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit
waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit
islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.You are here
riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit