Jostedal Glacier or is the largest

glacier A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

in continental

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. It is in

Vestland Vestland is a Counties of Norway, county in Norway. The county is located in Western Norway, and its administrative centre is Bergen, where the executive and political leadership is based. The County governor (Norway), County Governor is based in ...

county in

Western Norway Western Norway (; ) is the Regions of Norway, region along the Atlantic coast of southern Norway. It consists of the Counties of Norway, counties Rogaland, Vestland, and Møre og Romsdal. The region has no official or political-administrative fu ...

. Jostedalsbreen lies in the municipalities of Luster,

Sogndal Sogndal is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is located on the northern shore of the Sognefjorden in the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Sogn. The village of Hermansv ...

Sunnfjord Sunnfjord ( - in contrast to Nordfjord) is a traditional district in Western Norway located in Vestland county. It includes the municipalities of Askvoll, Fjaler, the southernmost parts of Kinn, Sunnfjord, and the southernmost parts of Brem ...

, and

Stryn Stryn is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in the Counties of Norway, county of Vestland, Norway. It is located in the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Nordfjord. The administrative center of the municipality is the vi ...

. The highest peak in the area is

Lodalskåpa Lodalskåpa is the highest nunatak on the Norwegian glacier Jostedalsbreen. It is located on the border between the municipalities of Stryn and Luster, Norway, Luster in Vestland county, Norway, within Jostedalsbreen National Park. The tall Lo ...

at a height of .

History

In 1906, work was being done on

footpath A footpath (also pedestrian way, walking trail, nature trail) is a type of thoroughfare that is intended for use only by pedestrians and not other forms of traffic such as Motor vehicle, motorized vehicles, bicycles and horseback, horses. They ...

s that could accommodate tourists. The glacial water is also used in distilling Vikingfjord

Geography

The Jostedal Glacier has a total area of . The highest point is Høgste Breakulen at above

mean sea level A mean is a quantity representing the "center" of a collection of numbers and is intermediate to the extreme values of the set of numbers. There are several kinds of means (or "measures of central tendency") in mathematics, especially in statist ...

. Branches of the glacier reach down into the valleys, for instance

Bøyabreen Bøyabreen is a glacier in the Fjærland area of Sogndal Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located inside Jostedalsbreen National Park, and it is a side branch of the large Jostedalsbreen glacier. See also *List of glaciers in No ...

Fjærland Fjærland or Mundal is a village in Sogndal Municipality, at the end of the Fjærlandsfjorden, in Vestland county, Norway. The Fjærlandfjorden is a branch going north off the Sognefjorden, the longest fjord in Norway. The village area is locate ...

and Nigardsbreen, both at above sea level. The thickest part of the glacier is . Jostedalsbreen has a length of a little more than and it is a part of the

Jostedalsbreen National Park Jostedalsbreen National Park () is a national park in Norway that encompasses the largest glacier on the European mainland, Jostedalsbreen. The park was established by royal decree on 25 October 1991, and then in 1998, it was enlarged to the nort ...

, which was established in 1991. The glacier covers over half of the national park. The glacier is maintained by the high snowfall rates in the region, not the cold temperatures. This means the glacier has high melting rates in its snouts. The Jostedalsbreen has around 50 glacier arms such as the Nigardsbreen and Tunsbergdalsbreen in Jostedal, the Briksdalsbreen near

Olden Olden may refer to: Places *Olden, Norway, a village in Stryn, Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway *Olden, Missouri, an unincorporated community *Olden, Texas, a community in Eastland county, Texas, USA People *Andrew Olden, birth name of actor Andr ...

, the

, the Kjenndalsbreen,

Tindefjellbreen Tindefjellbreen is a glacier in the municipality of Stryn in Vestland county, Norway. The glacier lies about east of the mountain Skåla, roughly halfway between the villages of Bødalen and Erdalen. The glacier is in the mountains east of ...

near Loen, and Austerdalsbreen. In 2012, the glacier arm Briksdalsbreen lost of ice in a few months. More recent measurements now show that Briksdalsbreen retreated in 2006, and could be in danger of breaking away from the upper icefield. Ice climbing has now been terminated because of this event.

References

External links

Map
at SNL.no
Jostedalsbreen National Park CentreJostedal Glacier National ParkDirectorate for Nature Management - National Parks
Glaciers of Vestland Sogndal Sunnfjord Luster, Norway Stryn {{Vestland-geo-stub

History

Geography

See also

References

Further reading

External links