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Jan Mayen is an island situated 550 km northeast of Iceland and 500 km east of Greenland, between 75° 5’N and 72° N, and between 7° 5’V and 8° 5’V. The island is 53 km long and covers 377 km².

On the mound between the Northern Lagoon and the sea, just below the Meteorological station, Atlantic City or New Chicago it also was called, was located. This was originally built as a High frequency direction finder (HF/DF) station by the Americans in November 1943. The Americans manned it until February 15^th 1946. From summer 1946 till the new meteorological station was ready for use in 1949 it was used for meteorological station and radio. Today very little is left of it. In "Olonkin City", 18 inhabitants of Jan Mayen are living.

The people, who work at Jan Mayen go there with one of the Royal Norwegian Air force's C130 Hercules planes. These planes go from Bodø - it is a 1000 km flight of 2 hours. The planes also bring supplies and mail, but there are only 8 flights each year, so letters from home are scarce.

There is an arctic-maritime climate on Jan Mayen, causing relatively mild winters and cold summers. Clear days are rare, foggy days are more the rule. The waters surrounding the island are normally icy from February until April, but this varies from year to year.

The tradition of 'ice bathing' is still living in the Arctic - this is in Nordlaguna (The northern lagoon) probably in spring 1961.

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