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Snow-covered mountains with a height of up to 1,000 metres can be seen near the research station Kings Bay in Ny-Alesund on Spitsbergen island, Norway, 10 April 2015. Arctic research stations of Norway, Germany, France and China manned throughout the year are now operating on the grounds of the former mining site on the Svalbard archipelago. Italy, Great Britain and Japan maintain research stations for limited periods of time. Scientists from Spain and the Netherlands use some of the smaller buildings. The jointly maintained infrastructure of Kings Bay with its marine research laboratories, cafeteria, port facilities and workshops is the foundation on which the research activities are based on. Photo: Jens Buettner/dpa | usage worldwide (KEYSTONE/DPA/Jens Büttner)