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One of Norway's largest glaciers has split apart due to extensive melting
Harbardsbreen, a long glacier in western Norway, has melted significantly in just a few years. Satellite images now show that it has split into two larger sections and several smaller ones.
“We have been monitoring Harbardsbreen for several years because we crecognised that the glacier was at risk of splitting apart in this area. We should expect more glaciers to break up, and Norway’s ranking of its largest glaciers will need to be revised once we complete a new nationwide survey,” glacier researcher Liss Marie Andreassen at the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE) says in a press release (link in Norwegian).
Maps need to be updated
Harbardsbreen is considered Norway’s 11th-largest glacier and is located in the Breheimen mountain range, between Jostedalsbreen to the west and Jotunheimen to the east.
Satellite images from Copernicus taken in 2019 and this summer reveal a substantial reduction in the glacier’s size. In 2019, it covered an area of 22.6 square kilometres. The largest remaining section of the glacier now covers just over 14 square kilometres.
Over the past 25 years, climate change has caused extensive melting across many of Norway's glaciers. This means that the glacial landscape no longer matches existing maps, as demonstrated by Harbardsbreen.
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'These changes may create new opportunities for travel routes, but they may also increase the risk of natural hazards, including ice avalanches and glacial outburst floods from newly formed glacial lakes,' NVE writes.
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Could cause glacial outburst floods
The Icelandic term Jökulhlaup refers to a glacial outburst flood, which can occur when meltwater accumulates beneath a glacier, forming a lake held back by ice. If the ice barrier gives way, enormous volumes of water can suddenly rush out from the glacier, potentially causing extensive damage and flooding.
In 2015, NVE warned of the risk of uncontrolled flooding caused by a glacial outburst flood from Harbardsbreen, involving more than 6 million cubic metres of water. The situation stabilised over the following couple of days.
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Translated by Alette Bjordal Gjellesvik
Read the Norwegian version of this article on forskning.no
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