LATEGLACIAL AND HOLOCENE GLACIER FLUCTUATIONS AND CLIMATE VARIATIONS IN WESTERN NORWAY - A REVIEW

Evidence from terminal moraines, palynological data and tree limits suggests that considerable climatic changes occurred in western Norway from Lateglacial (about 14 ka BP) up to the present. The most significant climatic changes took place around the Younger Dryas (11-10 ka BP), the Erdalen event (9.1 +/- 0.2 ka BP) and the Little Ice Age (mid 18th century). Lithostratigraphic and paleobotanical studies suggest that the Jostedalsbre ice cap, and possibly most of the west Norwegian glaciers. disappeared during the early Holocene Hypsithermal interval (ca. 8-6 ka BP) and was reformed about 5 ka BP. From about 2.5 ka BP the equilibrium-line altitude (ELA) fluctuated around modem levels. The modern glaciers in western Norway reached their maximum Neoglacial extent during the Little Ice Age, when the ELA was depressed 100- 1 50 m.