This week, a group of researchers hiked up to a surface on the Engabreen, a glacier arm of the Svartisen in Nordland. They were to see how much ice and snow had melted away this summer. But on the way up they saw a terrifying sight: Familiars with children were walking close to the glacier arms. – The glacier is constantly in motion. When you are along a cliff edge that is high and steep, the risk is there all the time. Glacier researcher Hallgeir Elvehøy is particularly concerned that tourists may get the huge blocks of ice that fell from the glacier on their heads. It is impossible to know when it will happen for a tourist. Photo: Hallgeir Elvehøy This is according to glacier researcher Hallgeir Elvehøy from NVE. This causes the Norwegian Tourist Association to react. They think people don’t understand the risks. – We know that there are people who take the chance and go further than they should. It’s a phenomenon we don’t just see on Svartisen, says head of DNT in Bodø and surroundings, Berit Irgens. First time all the winter snow has melted This year it has been a particularly hot summer in the north. For most northerners, the summer heat has been a joy, but for the Engabreen, the summer has had serious consequences. Researcher Hallgeir Elvehøy was at the Engabreen for the first time in 1992. This is the first time he has experienced something like this. Photo: Anne Næsheim / news In just three months, the glacier has melted 8 metres. For the first time, all the winter snow has melted away this year. – It is one of the worst years for the glacier ever, says Elvehøy. Only since the turn of the millennium has the thickness of the Svartisen, of which the Engabreen is a part, been halved. Svartisen lies in the middle between Mo i Rana and Bodø, and stretched across six municipalities. The glacier is actually split in two. The two parts are called the east glacier and the west glacier. The findings from the latest survey say the same as Elvehøy’s British colleagues have concluded: Breane is melting away even faster than before. – Engabreen has been one of the glaciers in Norway that has managed the best. There is usually little snow left there after winter. So this is not a positive development, says Elvehøy. Why are glaciers shrinking? In order for a bank to grow, more precipitation must fall in front of snow in the winter than melts in the summer. If there is a lot of precipitation and the ice becomes thick enough on the summit plateau, the ice will become plastic and be able to move downwards. The ice must have a certain speed of movement in order to remain stable. But with rising temperatures, there has not been enough rainfall. In the last 20 years, scientists have noticed a trend where glaciers are not moving as much as in the past. Low-lying glaciers shrink without the supply of new ice. The glaciers are getting smaller. The glaciers are becoming more dangerous The melting means that the glacier is in constant motion. It also makes the glacier more dangerous, and it can slide more often. – Many lumps of ice fall from the glacier all the time and the ice hangs over. Fortunately, it did not happen yesterday afternoon, but you will only know that afterwards, says the glacier researcher. Before the tourists reached the glacier, they had to pass three warning signs, according to the researcher. They ask people to keep a distance of 100 meters from the edge of the ravine. Signs like this meet tourists and local hikers up the Engabreen at Svartisen. Photo: Hallgeir Elvehøy The researchers tried to shout down to the tourists that it was dangerous. But to no avail. Elvehøy understands that tourists who have traveled far may feel that the warnings are exaggerated. If someone moves past the warnings, he believes it is easier for others to do the same. – You have to have been to a glacier several times to understand that it changes. To an ordinary tourist, it may look like part of the mountain. Glacier guide: See the same problem in many places And it is not just at Engabreen that professionals see tourists tempting fate. This is also a known problem at Nigardsbreen, Bøyabreen and Supphellebreen, which are part of Jostedalsbreen. Warnings on signs have not worked here either. Tindveg manager Halvor Dannevig, who leads tourists on glacier hikes in the area, says that there have been several deaths in recent years because tourists without a guide got ice blocks in their heads or were hit by floe from the glacier arms. In the last 20 years, 28 glaciers with continuous measurements have retreated an average of 391 metres, informs Norway’s Directorate of Water Resources and Energy (NVE). Here from Svartisen. Photo: Jarle Elverhøy – If you go glacier hiking with a guide, you can get really close to the glacier. Do you think this means that tourists without a guide do not understand the risks? – It could be. But a guide knows where to go and where the ice won’t collapse in order to take tourists safely. In addition, they have safety equipment such as crampons and ropes, says Dannevig. In the glacier arms of Jostedalsbreen, the solution has been physical guards. It has also become the solution at Trolltunga and at Besseggen in Norway and in the Alps. The name Svartisen comes from the old name “Svartis”, which describes the characteristic deep blue color in the ice, contrasting with the white snow. Photo: Synnøve Sundby Fallmyr / news – Climate change makes the glaciers even more dangerous for tourists who don’t know what they are doing, says Dannevig, who is also a climate and environmental researcher at Vestlandsforskning in Sogndal. The reason is that the moraines where the glaciers have retreated are unstable and rocks can fall from them. Dams that remain after the glaciers can crack open so that there is slush, and if it melts on steep terrain, there can be a risk of ice avalanches where there were none before. – Unfortunately, people who take chances Berit Irgens in DNT in Bodø and the surrounding area believe that tourists do not always understand the risks it entails in nature in the short term. – They are very keen to have that experience and be close to the glacier, she says. Berit Irgens in Bodø and the surrounding area tourist association has had several tourists stop by this summer who ask for advice before visiting Svartisen. She feels that those who ask listen to them. Photo: Bodø og Omegns Turistforening – Some tourists have less respect for nature because they are not usually close to it. Then it is easy to overlook good advice. Irgens believes that the signage at Engabreen is sufficient, but says that the dangers could be better informed in English on websites that tourists use. Published 14.08.2024, at 13.21
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Here the family with children stands directly under the glacier – the tourist attraction is melting away – news Nordland
