Glaciers are key indicators of climate change. While the mass balance of a glacier reflects annual weather directly, records of front variation can be used for climate change detection on a decadal-to-century time scales. When a glacier advances or retreats its surface area also changes. Here NVE’ records of surface mass balance and front variation for glaciers in mainland Norway are shown. The data are retrieved directly from NVE’s database. Read more about the data series below the map. ….

Select a glacier to view the mass balance and front variation data. : Download data. : Show location on the map. : Open NVE’s digital glacier map service. ID and Main refers to Glacier ID and glacier complex abbreviation in the Glacier inventory of Norway (Andreassen et al., 2012).

Front variation Mass balance Front variation & Mass balance

More about the products
Some of the selected glaciers have long time series (more than 20 years) of mass balance or length observations and are selected for the “Norwegian Reference Hydrological Dataset for Climate Change Studies” (Fleig et al., 2013; Andreassen & Evehøy, 2021). Here data are shown for all glaciers with a mass balance or front variation record in NVE’s database. The mass balance and front variation measurements have been published annually or biannually since 1963 (e.g., Kjøllmoen et al., 2021). The data are also reported to the World Glacier Monitoring Service and stored in their databases.

Mass balance
NVE’s glacier surface mass balance series contain annual (net), winter and summer balances (Andreassen et al., 2005; Kjøllmoen et al., 2017). The annual balance is the sum of winter balance and summer balance. Area-averaged values for winter and summer balances are calculated by inter- and extrapolating point measurements of snow density, snow depths and ablation. The data presented here are official values from NVE. The series are categorized as ‘original’ (as published in ‘Glasiologiske undersøkelser i Norge/Glaciological investigations in Norway), ‘homogenized’ (for selected or all years) or ‘calibrated’ (periods are calibrated with geodetic observations). Five of the series (Engabreen, Nigardsbreen, Rembesdalskåka, Ålfotbreen and Hansebreen) have been calibrated for parts of the observation period (Andreassen et al., 2016). Furthermore, several of the short term series have been homogenized (Kjøllmoen, 2017). An area-weighted annual mass balance signal reflects a year’s weather directly, however, for longer time series changes in glacier area will also influence the annual balance. Thus, care should be taken when analyzing long time series as they may contain effects other than just climate change.

Length
Glacier front variation is derived from annual, repeated measurements of distance between the glacier terminus and fixed landmarks. It should be noted that in contrast to mass balance measurements, front variation does not require annual measurements to have a continuous series. If one year’s data is absent, front variation is derived from two years instead of one, maintaining the cumulative signal. Nonetheless, some of the front variation series are discontinuous. This is shown by a red vertical line in the diagram.

References and more information
NVEs internettsider:www.nve.no/bre
Andreassen, L.M. & H. Elvehøy. 2021. Norwegian Glacier Reference Dataset for Climate Change Studies. NVE Rapport 33-2021, 21 s. (pdf)
Andreassen, L.M., H. Elvehøy, B. Kjøllmoen, R.V. Engeset and N. Haakensen. 2005. Glacier mass balance and length variations in Norway. Annals of Glaciology, 42, 317–325.
Andreassen, L.M., F. Paul, A. Kääb and J.E. Hausberg. 2008. Landsat-derived glacier inventory for Jotunheimen, Norway, and deduced glacier changes since the 1930s. The Cryosphere, 2, 131–145. (pdf)
Andreassen, L.M., S.H. Winsvold, F. Paul and J.E. Hausberg. 2012. Inventory of Norwegian glaciers. NVE Rapport 38.(pdf)
Andreassen, L.M., H. Elvehøy, B. Kjøllmoen and R.V. Engeset. 2016. Reanalysis of long-term series of glaciological and geodetic mass balance for 10 Norwegian glaciers, The Cryosphere, 10, 535-552, doi:10.5194/tc-10-535-2016, 2016.(pdf)
Fleig, A.K. (ed.), L.M. Andreassen, E. Barfod, J. Haga, L.E.Haugen, H. Hisdal, K. Melvold and T. Saloranta. 2013. Norwegian hydrological reference dataset for climate change studies. NVE Rapport, 2. (pdf)
Kjøllmoen, B. 2017. Homogenisering av korte massebalanseserier i Norge. NVE Rapport 33- 201, 130 p. (pdf)
Kjøllmoen, B. (Ed.), L.M. Andreassen, H. Elvehøy, K. Melvold. 2021. Glaciological investigations in Norway 2020. NVE Rapport 31-2021, 92 pp +app.(pdf)
Winsvold, S.H., L.M. Andreassen and C. Kienholz. 2014. Glacier area and front variations in Norway from repeat inventories. The Cryosphere, 8, 1885-1903.(pdf)