This photographer visited a remote arctic research town where the public isn't allowed — here are her stunning photos

© Anna Filipova

In the Arctic Ocean, halfway between mainland Norway and the North Pole, lies Ny-Ålesund, the most northerly settlement in the world.

Once a mining town, this island town on the Norwegian Svalbard archipelago is now home to the largest permanent laboratory for modern arctic scientific research in the world. Researchers living here conduct a number of environmental and earth science studies all year round. 

To keep the area surrounding the town largely untouched, access is extremely limited — only scientists and employees of the station are allowed. But photojournalist Anna Filipova was an exception and granted access to this remote research station.

While this wasn’t the first arctic place that Filipova has visited and photographed — she has spent much of her career working on projects above the arctic circle — it is certainly the most northern spot in which she has ever worked, being located above the 79th parallel.  And this barren landscape was also one of the most wild places she had ever been to.

“It was with surprise and trepidation that I learned that I must pass a firearms safety course in order to venture out of the settlement in case of an encounter with a polar bear,” Filipova told Business Insider. Polar bears live and breed in Svalbard, according to the Norwegian Polar Institute, and in the summer, bears sometimes wander close or even into the settlement. “The community has a rule that no one can lock the doors of any building in case a bear appears inside the settlement and there is an urgent need for refuge.”

But despite the harsh environment and risk of polar bears, Filipova arrived home from Ny-Ålesund with the stunning photographs of her series "Research at the End of the World." Here are just a few of these images.

“The Arctic is one of the most fascinating places on earth, but also one of the most endangered,” Filipova said. “The Arctic is constantly moving and shifting, melting, reforming, appearing and disappearing.”

This is why the town of Ny-Ålesundit is such a prime location for scientists to observe and study post-global warming conditions. Even though the town is remote and far from human civilization, it is still threatened by polluted air from Europe and North America that is brought by atmospheric circulation.

“From the day I arrived, I was immediately fascinated,” Filipova said. “Everything in the settlement is designed to identify, assess, and track changes within the environment.”