Global Outlook for Ice & Snow

kept the maximum extent until the late 19th century. Since 1900 glaciers have retreated but with short ad- vances around 1910, around 1930 and in the 1990s. In contrast to glaciers in most of the world, glaciers along the western coast advanced from the 1970s to the end of the 1990s as a result of high winter snow- fall. Since 2000, all glaciers have been retreating con- siderably 100,101 . The ice masses of the Svalbard archipelago, north of mainland Norway, cover 36 600 square km 102 . Long- term mass balance measurements from Austre Broeg- gerbreen and Midre Lovénbreen show a strong trend in ice loss over the past 40 years 103 .

Norway

Mainland Norway’s glacier cover is about 2600 square km 98,99 . Themaximumrecent extent culminated around 1750. At that time many farms and much farmland were buried by ice. Since then there has been a general retreat but with large regional variations; some areas

A glacier on Svalbard. Photo: Sebastian Gerland, Norwegian Polar Institute

CHAPTER 6B

GLACIERS AND ICE CAPS

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