Visible evidence of glacial melting
Norwegian Glacier Museum & Ulltveit-Moe climate centre has naturally been interested in glaciers and what happens to them since its inception in 1991. The trend is that they are melting, but this year one glacier has actually advanced.
Bøyabreen 2016. Photo: Pål Gran Kielland.
Among other things, we carry out front position measurements on some glaciers, but it is not always the case that quantifying the changes makes sense for everyone and everyone alone. Now that the melting of the glaciers makes some of the measurements difficult to carry out, photography is fortunately a good tool for monitoring developments. We keep a special eye on Bøyabreen and Store Supphellebreen in Fjærland, which we measured until 2014. Already in 2014, a "black hole" was reported in the glacier tongue of Bøyabreen. This hole is again clearly visible this year and is a clear sign that the glacier is thinning.
Bøyabreen 1997 (photo: Stefan Winkler) and 2016 (photo: Pål Gran Kielland).
By comparing photos of Bøyabreen in 1997, when it was at its largest in modern times, and today's condition, we can see that the regenerated glacier in the valley floor is now almost completely melted away. More and more solid rock is coming into view. There have been major changes since the late 90s. When we measured the glacier from 2003 to 2014, we saw that the glacier retreated a total of 160 meters.
Store Supphellebreen 1997 (photo: Stefan Winkler) and 2016 (photo: Pål Gran Kielland).
If we look at Store Supphellebreen, it is also clear that the regenerated part of the glacier is shrinking. We measured the glacier from 1992 to 2014 and recorded an eighteenth melting of about 70 meters in total.
Stone block in 1899 (photo: John Bernhard Rekstad) and 2016 (photo: Pål Gran Kielland).
Very recently, we actually made a discovery of a large boulder that was used as a marker when front position measurements started in 1899. State geologist John Bernhard Rekstad (1852-1934) created this mark to measure the distance to the glacier. At the time, he measured 77 meters to the edge of the glacier. Today we find the boulder just over 400 meters from the glacier, which means an eighteenth melting of over 300 meters since 1899. In the picture from 1899, Rekstad himself is standing next to the boulder, while it is the operations manager at Norwegian Glacier Museum , Svein Arne Bøyum, who is depicted in the new picture.
Store Supphellebreen (Flatbreen) in 1906 (photo: Monchton) and 2012 (photo: Pål Gran Kielland).
Higher up in the mountains we also see changes. Just over 100 years ago, Store Supphellebreen, popularly known as Flatbreen, was cutting and plowing up the large end moraine near Flatbrehytta. In retrospect, developments have gone the wrong way with the glacier retreating. To put it simply, the air is simply going out of the balloon.
Front position measurements
This year we have measured changes in the front position of Haugabreen in Jølster and Vetle Supphellebreen in Fjærland. The measurements show that Haugabreen has melted 15 meters in 2016. Since we started measuring the glacier in 2013, it has retreated 35 meters in total.
Haugabreen 2016 (photo: Pål Gran Kielland).
Vetle Supphellebreen, on the other hand, has advanced 16 meters in the past year. "The current trend is for glaciers to melt as the climate gets warmer. The accumulation of snow is usually very large every winter, but clearly not large enough to prevent the glaciers from melting over time. The advance of Vetle Supphellebreen by 16 meters this year is therefore interesting. We don't have any measurements of the glacier other than these front position measurements to refer to, but if we look at the Meteorological Institute's weather and climate data, the measuring station at Norwegian Glacier Museum has registered precipitation amounts above normal in the period 2011-2015. Large amounts of snow may be part of the explanation for the glacier's advance over the past year. Along with factors such as temperature, latitude, height above sea level, terrain (steepness and solar radiation) and proximity to the sea (maritimeity), precipitation is part of a complex interaction that leads to the formation and change of glaciers. Since 2011, when we started measuring the glacier, it has advanced a total of 2 meters.
At the front of Vetle Supphellebreen 2016 (photo: Pål Gran Kielland).