Glacier lake outburst floods
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A jøkulhlaup or Glacier Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) is a sudden release of water from a glacier. The water source can be a glacier-dammed lake, a pro-glacial moraine-dammed lake or water stored within, under or on the glacier. The term jøkulhlaup is Icelandic in origin (from the icelandic jøkull = glacier, hlaup = floodburst).
This GLOF application gives an overview of registered GLOFs from glaciers in mainland Norway. Click on the glaciers in the left menu too see more information on the registered events.


Rundvassbreen from Blåmannsisen calves into Øvre Messingmalmvatn. Several jøkulhlaups, or Glacier Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs), have occurred from this glacier. Photo: Hans Martin Hjemaas, September 2005.

Data sources
The source of the data is NVE’s glacier database, in which events are registered from the literature and observations. An overview of events prior to 1950 is given in Liestøl (1956) and in the GLACIORISK database where historically detected GLOFs were registered for Norway until 2003. Observations of GLOFs, ice falls and accidents in Norway up to and including 2014 are documented with references in Jackson and Ragulina (2014). NVE’s report series 'Glaciological investigations in Norway’ gives annual descriptions of the events.


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References and sources
NVE’s internet pages: http://www.nve.no/glacier
https://www.nve.no/hydrology/glaciers/jokulhlaup-glof/
https://www.nve.no/hydrologi/bre/glasiologiske-undersokelser-i-norge-glaciological-investigations-in-norway/
GLACIORISK: Glaciorisk – European project. Survey and prevention of extreme glaciological hazards in European mountainous regions.
http://www.nimbus.it/glaciorisk/gridabasemainmenu.asp
Jackson, M. and G. Ragulina. 2014. Inventory of glacier-related hazardous events in Norway. NVE Rapport 83-2014.
Liestøl, O. 1956. Glacier dammed lakes in Norway. Norsk geografisk tidsskrift, Bind 15, Oslo, p. 122-149.