1,600 Of Norway's Glaciers On Track To Disappear By 2100, Leaving 30 - Aftenposten

[hatrack]

The bottom portion of Norway's Storbreen (Big Glacier) in Jotunheimen has split in two and is steadily melting. Several summers and poor snowfall have left Bretunga, the lower part of the glacier, in poor shape. "The glacier is now clearly divided in two. Less than ten years ago it was completely joined there at the bottom," Liss Marie Andreassen, glaciologist at the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE), told Aftenposten.no.

Andreassen's doctorate focused on Storbreen. She says that the glacier has retreated around 60 meters due to melting since 1997, and since measurements began in 1949, the ice has melted about 500 meters back from its previous edge.

More or less all of Norway's glaciers are now on the retreat according to the NVE. They are shrinking in both length and volume, and the trend has been clear since the beginning of the 20th century. According to the research project RegClim, 1,600 Norwegian glaciers can be gone within the next hundred years, leaving only about 30. Andreassen would not give unconditional support to this prognosis.

"There is no doubt that many of the smaller glaciers will disappear if global warming continues. And many of the larger glaciers will greatly decrease in volume. But saying something about the situation in 100 years is difficult," she said.

EDIT

http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article1501530.ece

[krispos42]

1. Quick! Issue a milk carton! n/t

[NNadir]

2. This is likely to impact Norway's reliance on hydropower.

Except for it's recently constructed natural gas plant, Norway relies almost wholly on hydroelectric power. (They do have ten households powered by hydrogen though.)

I won't be around to see it, of course, which is a good thing.

I do hope someone is around to see it though.