kept the maximum extent until the late 19th century.
Since 1900 glaciers have retreated but with short ad-
vances around 1910, around 1930 and in the 1990s.
In contrast to glaciers in most of the world, glaciers
Norway
along the western coast advanced from the 1970s to
the end of the 1990s as a result of high winter snow-
fall. Since 2000, all glaciers have been retreating con-
siderably
100,101
.
Mainland Norway’s glacier cover is about 2600 square The ice masses of the Svalbard archipelago, north of
km
98,99
. The maximum recent extent culminated around mainland Norway, cover 36 600 square km
102
. Long-
1750. At that time many farms and much farmland term mass balance measurements from Austre Broeg-
were buried by ice. Since then there has been a general gerbreen and Midre Lovénbreen show a strong trend in
retreat but with large regional variations; some areas ice loss over the past 40 years
103
.
A glacier on Svalbard.
Photo: Sebastian Gerland,
Norwegian Polar Institute
CHAPTER 6B GLACIERS AND ICE CAPS 135