Seasonal character of seismicity in the region of Spitsbergen archipelago

The paper presents main results of retrospective study of seismicity of Spitsbergen Archipelago, West Spitsbergen Island and zone Stor-Fiord - Sudcup for 1999-2008. The authors have revealed that the annual variation of the number of earthquakes with different magnitudes occurred in the area has seasonal character. To explain the phenomena we have suggested linking the seismic variation with annually variations of air temperature which affect the glaciers melting.