As the 2012 summer tourist season is coming to an end, the Briksdal Glacier records a new record number of visitors. During the season ending this week, more than 40.000 tourists visited the glacier. The Briksdal Glacier is a part of the main ice massif, Jostedal Glacier, which is the largest glacier on the European mainland.
The Glacier is located in Sogn og Fjordane county in Western Norway. Although the glacier is contracting due to higher temperatures and less snow , it still covers 486 km2. At its thickest point it is now 400 m deep. and its tallest peak stretches to 1950 m above sea level. Jostedalsbreen located in the municipalities of Luster, Sogndal, Jølster, and Stryn.
Jostedalsbreen has a length of a little more than 60 kilometres and covers over half of the national park which was established in 1991 and covers 1,310 square kilometres. The main glacier has around 50 glacier arms, of which some are accessible for tourists. Nigardsbreen and Tunsbergdalsbreen in Jostedal, the Briksdalsbreen near Olden, the Bøyabreen by Fjærland, the Kjenndalsbreen and Tindefjellbreen near Loen, and Austerdalsbreen.
In 2006, the glacier arm Briksdalsbreen lost 50 metres (160 ft) of ice in a few months. More recent measurements now show that Briksdalsbreen retreated 146 metres (479 ft) in 2006, and could be in danger of breaking away from the upper icefield. Ice climbing has now been terminated because of this event.
Most glaciers in Norway are now smaller than they have been for several hundred years, according to surveys made by the Norwegian Water and Energy Directorate (NVE).
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Wall Street Journal reporter J.S.Marcus has been on a trip to Tromsø in Northern Norway, —an island city of some 70,000 people, 350 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle, and about as far north as you can go in the world and still be in a city, he writes.
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Search parties believe they have probably found the crash site where the missing Norwegian Hercules C 130-J military transport aircraft with five officers onboard went down in Northern Sweden on Thursday.
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The Norwegian expedition that has followed the exact same route to the South Pole as Roald Amundsen did 100 years ago, finally reached their endpoint, Hercules Inlet, on Thursday.
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One of the Norwegian expeditions to the South Pole has been a week delayed due to bad weather, and the group would not be able to reach their starting point in Hvalbukta until Sunday, at the earliest.
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The Svalbard archipelago constitutes the northernmost part of Norway between North Norway and the North Pole. The location of the islands ranges between 74 to 81 degrees north. Spitsbergen is the largest island and Longyearbyen is the administrative center. The archipelago features an Arctic climate, and offers a great destination for your holidays.
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The district of Luster is at the end of Sognefjorden. The world's longest fjord, Europe's largest continental glacier and Northern Europe's most Alpine mountain region, are all found in Luster.
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The four British studenst injured by a polar bear on Svalbard Friday, have been flown to Tromsø University Hospital (photo) for treatment. Their injuries are not life-threatening, but serious for two of them.
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On the Arctic Svalbard archipelago, one British tourist was killed and four others were seriously injured by a polar bear Friday morning, NRK reports. They have been airlifted to the Longyearbyen hospital. The bear has been killed.
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This is the fifth in a series of articles written by a Norwegian-born teenager living in the US, returning to Norway for the first time this summer. Martha Melsom (16) has promised to share her experiences ... ..
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Travelling from the south, The National Tourist Route Ryfylke starts at the mouth of the Lysefjord in Ryfylke. This is where you first get to encounter Fjord Norway at the Lysefjord in Ryfylke.
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The Buer glacier is an arm of the majestic Folgefonna glacier. From the centre of Odda it is about 8 kilometres to Buer. From the parking lot you can already see the glacier from a distance. (Photo : Jan - Stefan Knick ).
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