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Scandinavian Glaciers

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Encyclopedia of Snow, Ice and Glaciers

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Definition

Scandinavia: Geographical area in northern Europe consisting Norway, Sweden, and northwestern part of Finnish Lapland.

Introduction

Scandinavia is located in northern Europe between latitudes 55–71° North (Figure 1). The mountains that run through mainland Scandinavia from south to north are not very high but in many places they are very steep. The highest peaks reach well over 2,000 m above the present sea level. Their northern location and moisture from the North Atlantic Ocean to the west of Scandinavia has caused the formation of many glaciers in the coastal areas as well as further inland several times, particularly during the past 2.6 million years. At present, the glaciers in Scandinavia are relatively small and cover mostly mountainous areas, occurring in a wide latitudinal range from ca. 60° N to 70°N. Although glaciated areas in Scandinavia consist of only 0.2% of the ice coverage in Arctic regions (Dowdeswell and Hagen, 2004), they have provided valuable records...

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Correspondence to Juha P. Lunkka .

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Lunkka, J.P. (2011). Scandinavian Glaciers. In: Singh, V.P., Singh, P., Haritashya, U.K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Snow, Ice and Glaciers. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2642-2_464

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