Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Skip to content

Try the next-generation Data Catalog at catalog-beta.data.gov and help shape it with your feedback.

Rock glaciers from Norway and Svalbard, Version 1

Metadata Updated: April 9, 2026

A complete inventory of rock glaciers on mainland Norway and Svalbard has only been carried out in connection with coarse geomorphological mapping. The data presented here are therefore averaged on a regional scale. Some detailed geomorpholgical maps exist, however, where more detailed information can be extracted. The data listed are therefore not a complete database of Norwegian rock glaciers. Recently detailed studies have been carried out on rockglaciers in the Ny Alesund and the Longyearbyen areas on Svalbard. From these studies, detailed data are available. On mainland Norway, there are at least 150 rock glaciers (Sollid and Sorbel 1992) . These may be grouped as follows: 1. Probably active rock glaciers in high mountain areas in southern and northern Norway. Most of these are situated in the Rondane mountain area of southern Norway. 2. Relict rock glaciers in low-lying areas near the coast of northern Norway. These rock glaciers have a position marginal to the Weichselian ice sheet and were formed during permafrost conditions before or during deglaciation. 3. Relict rock glaciers in higher inland areas of northern Norway. These rock glaciers are believed to have formed under permafrost conditions during deglaciation possibly because of rock falls caused by tectonic activity during isostatic uplift. On Svalbard, there are at least 500 rock glaciers (Kristiansen and Sollid 1986). Most of these are situated on the central and western part of Spitsbergen. They are most common in coastal areas, often below the steep escarpment which delimits the inner part of the strandflat. As Svalbard has continuous permafrost, most of these are probably active. Some may however be inactive, as for instance the rock glaciers at Stuphallet near Ny Alesund (Sollid and Sorbel 1992). In those cases, the rock glaciers have moved out of its source area and onto the strandflat. Partly in cooperation with ETH-Zurich, detailed investigations have been started in the Ny Alesund area, Western Spitsbergen. These investigations have been enlarged also to the Longyearbyen area, central Spitsbergen. Principal methods have been velocity measurements, using theodolite/EDM, GPS and photogrammetry; geophysical methods (DC resistivity soundings, seismic refraction soundings, gravimetry and georadar); and morphometrical analysis using a Digital Elevation Model and a grid-based GIS. Typical velocities are between 5 and 10 cm/year, both for lobate and tongue-shaped rock glaciers. These data are presented on the CAPS Version 1.0 CD-ROM, June 1998.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: See this page for license information.

Downloads & Resources

Dates

Metadata Created Date April 11, 2025
Metadata Updated Date April 9, 2026

Metadata Source

Harvested from NASA Data.json

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date April 11, 2025
Metadata Updated Date April 9, 2026
Publisher NSIDC
Maintainer
Identifier 10.7265/724x-cb63
Data Last Modified 2026-04-06
Category Earth Science
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 026:00
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id 8d6480e0-1b2d-4bb8-9d30-66b6d55ec42c
Harvest Source Id 58f92550-7a01-4f00-b1b2-8dc953bd598f
Harvest Source Title NASA Data.json
License https://www.usa.gov/government-works
Old Spatial "CARTESIAN",{"WestBoundingCoordinate":10.0,"NorthBoundingCoordinate":81.0,"EastBoundingCoordinate":31.0,"SouthBoundingCoordinate":58.0}
Program Code 026:000
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 09ae02d5d1398ff6bc6954fb077a8ae7e599aa4d6a64818c9f34c71cd2f07169
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial
Temporal 1985-01-01/1997-12-31

Didn't find what you're looking for? Suggest a dataset here.