New report – Glaciological investigations in Norway 2024
In a new report NVE presents results from measurements of Norwegian glaciers in 2024. The report describes measurements of glacier mass balance and glacier front variations. There is also information about measurement of glacier movement, jøkulhlaups and meteorological measurements at some glaciers. The last chapter of the report includes some results from the JOSTICE research project, which deals with the present and future of Jostedalsbreen.
Mass balance
Mass balance investigations were performed on ten glaciers in Norway in 2024 – two in northern Norway and eight in southern Norway. All ten glaciers have measurements back to 1989 or earlier. In this report we refer to the nine mass balance reference glaciers that include Langfjordjøkelen and Engabreen in northern Norway and Ålfotbreen, Hansebreen, Nigardsbreen, Rembesdalskåka, Storbreen, Hellstugubreen and Gråsubreen in southern Norway, according to the Norwegian hydrological reference dataset for climate change studies (Fleig et al., 2013; Andreassen and Elvehøy, 2021).
The winter balance was lower than the 1991-2020 average for eight of the nine reference glaciers. Only Storbreen in Jotunheimen had a greater winter balance than the average at 103 %. Rembesdalskåka on Hardangerjøkulen and Engabreen on Svartisen had the lowest relative winter balance with 62 % and 64 % of the 1991-2020 averages, respectively. The summer balance was greater than the 1991-2020 average for all nine reference glaciers. Engabreen and Langfjordjøkelen in western Finnmark had the greatest relative summer balances with 203 % and 188 % of the reference period averages, respectively. This is the greatest summer balances measured on these two glaciers since measurements started in 1970 and 1989, respectively. Rembesdalskåka had the lowest relative summer balance with 103 % of the reference period. The annual balance thus was negative for all nine reference glaciers. Langfjordjøkelen and Engabreen had the greatest deficits with −4.1 m w.e., and −3.9 m w.e., respectively, and these are the greatest deficits ever measured on both glaciers.
Glacier front variations
Glacier front variations were measured at 26 glaciers in southern Norway and 9 glaciers in northern Norway. Thirty four of the 35 measured glacier outlets had a decrease in length. The greatest retreats were observed at Engabreen (83 m), at Austre Okstindbreen (80 m) and at Steindalsbreen (75 m), all located in northern Norway.
The report for 2024 can be down-loaded here together with previous reports in the series
Bjarne Kjøllmoen (Ed.), Liss M. Andreassen, Hallgeir Elvehøy. 2025. Glaciological investigations in Norway 2024, NVE Rapport 27-2025, 110 pp +app. http://publikasjoner.nve.no/rapport/2025/rapport2025_27.pdf
