Norwegian Mountains Research Articles

Widespread plant species temporal variation along environmental and microclimate gradients in Norwegian mountains in a climate change context

The effect of climate change on mountain vegetation is influenced by environmental factors and site effects. To monitor the effect of climate change we therefore need to understand species' sensitivity to microclimate and environmental gradients. The objective of this study is to study widespread plant species' temporal and spatial variation along environmental and microclimate gradients in Norwegian mountains along a coast–inland gradient. Occurrence and abundance of plant species were surveyed in 110 study plots in four mountains at two points in time, seven years apart. Of the 222 plant species registered, Salix herbacea, Phyllodoce caerulea, Carex bigelowii, Juncus trifidus, Vaccinium myrtillus, Avenella flexuosa, and Empetrum nigrum were widespread across all mountains. These species responded differently to environmental and microclimate gradients, and abundance data were more sensitive than occurrence data. During the short time span we observed some indications of response which might support the assumption that boreal species outcompete alpine species in the forest transition zone, but our data do not indicate this effect at higher altitudes. Monitoring of climate change in mountains needs to include plots along environmental and microclimate gradients as well as an abundance of a set of widespread plant species that represent regional, local environmental, and climate gradients. However, when monitoring perennial plant species, the need for long‐term monitoring projects is high because such species develop slowly over several decades.

‘An experiment with the self’: sensory experience, self-analysis, and object relations theory in Oliver Sacks’ A Leg to Stand On (1984)

ABSTRACT In 1974, neurologist Oliver Sacks was hiking alone in the Norwegian mountains when he severely injured his leg running from a bull. Better known for documenting his patients’ disorders and recovery processes, in the autobiographical A Leg to Stand On (1984) he instead maps the ensuing “chaos” of his own changed body and mind as he grapples with the alteration of core sensory experience and its impact on his sense of self. In this article, I showcase Sacks’ self-analytic narrative, demonstrating the value of reading accounts of sensory experiences of ill health via the lens of psychoanalytic object relations theory. I argue that this this approach can not only help us to see sensory and material experience as intimately tied up with one’s internal object world, but also allows us to understand illness narratives themselves as psychical objects in which authors, readers and critics may have complex investments.

Chloromonas rubrosalmonea sp. nov. (Chlorophyta) causes blooms of salmon-red snow due to high astaxanthin and low chlorophyll content

ABSTRACT Melting snowfields support microbial communities, including blooms of phototrophic psychrophiles. “Watermelon snow” and its flagship species Sanguina nivaloides are mostly found at exposed, alpine or polar sites. Here, we investigated an alga that is morphologically similar but likely less common, thriving in exposed or semi-exposed snowpacks at lower altitudes frequently close to the tree line, and causing characteristic, intensely salmon-red snow surface spots in Central European and Norwegian mountains. Our aim was to illustrate the taxonomic heterogeneity of red snow by performing a cellular and molecular characterization of this species. The phylogenetic analysis placed the alga into the genus Chloromonas, clade “group C”. Single-cell Sanger sequencing enabled us to link the cell morphotype to its genotype. In addition to light microscopy of the snow samples, applying 18S rRNA gene and ITS2 metabarcoding confirmed that this alga dominated the bloom communities. The cysts had multi-layered smooth cell walls, and had a broadly oval to fully spherical shape, in striking contrast to most other Chloromonas species found on snow surfaces. Another remarkable feature was a pronounced astaxanthin accumulation in relation to a low proportion of chlorophylls, occasionally accompanied by a significant reduction of thylakoid membranes. This likely caused the photosynthetic dormancy of mature cysts found in some samples. Based on these data, we describe the snow alga as Chloromonas rubrosalmonea, sp. nov.

ASSESSING THE MEASUREMENT QUALITY OF UAV-BORNE LASER SCANNING IN STEEP AND SNOW-COVERED AREAS

Abstract. Avalanche monitoring in the Norwegian mountains has potential for preventing disasters and informing hikers. Using a Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)-borne laser scanner, this work proposes a protocol to assess the quality of point cloud data for monitoring avalanche risks. Roof models are used as control planes to analyze the collected points. The distances to the control planes are used to investigate error measures, and inliers and plane equations are compared with the roof model dimensions. These parameters provide insights into the reliability of the point cloud data. The comparison shows the impact of flight speed and altitude on accuracy. While varying flight speed does not affect error measures, both speed and altitude significantly affect the number of collected points. Point coverage is concentrated near the top of the roof models, resulting in a calculated model volume that is only 50% of the expected value. Comparing the Random Sample Consensus (RANSAC)-derived plane equations with the roof model planes reveals that more points are collected above the roof model planes. The standard deviations of the inliers range from 0.011 m to 0.023 m, and the root mean square error (RMSE) ranges from 0.060 m to 0.019 m. These findings indicate the reliability of UAVs for monitoring steep and snow-covered areas without the need for reference points to correct positions.

Summer snowline altitude gradients in Western Norway are influenced by maritime climate

ABSTRACT Mountain snowline dynamics are relatively underreported with few studies exploring spatial snowline dynamics. Whilst clear regional-scale relationships between snowline location and temperature exist in European mountains, recent research at higher latitudes reports no response to climate change. In maritime mountains, snowlines occupy complex environmental gradients. Using timeseries of satellite data from Landsat missions 5–8 (151 images between 1984 and 2021), we explored sub-regional summer snowline dynamics across the maritime-continental climate gradient in the Western Norwegian mountains. We characterize spatio-temporal snowline altitude dynamics and investigate the climate factors altering snowline patterns. Summer snowline altitudes were found to increase inland at around double the rate of the 0°C summer isotherm. Data from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) land component of the fifth generation of European Reanalysis (ERA5-Land), showed a potential ‘maritime-mountain’ effect with coastal orographic snowfall and cloud cover-induced surface solar downwelling radiation amplifying maritime-continental snowline altitude gradients alongside surface atmospheric temperature. This was replicated in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Between 1984 and 2021, we found spatial summer snowline gradients in Norway decreased and propose multiple climate forcings are responsible, potentially masking links between snowlines and climate change. Although non-significant, the data also suggest regional summer snowline altitudes increased. This study demonstrates the complex spatial heterogeneity in snow-climate relationships and highlights how long-term snow dynamics can be queried using fine-grain (Landsat) resolution satellite data. We share our approach through a Google Earth Engine web-app that rapidly executes spatial snowline analyses for global mountain regions via a graphical user interface.

The Norwegian mountains: the result of multiple episodes of uplift and subsidence

The elevation of the mountains in Norway is geologically young. Much of the present‐day land surface was buried below a thick cover of relatively young sediments in the early Miocene, 23 Ma, when Scandinavia started to be uplifted. Big river systems eroded deeply into the rising landscape and transported sand and gravel from Norway and Sweden to Denmark where the detritus was deposited in a large delta. In Norway, the erosion formed an extensive plain near sea level that included the present‐day mountain plateau of Hardangervidda and extended across a thick pile of sediments that covered the present‐day coastal areas of Norway. Hardangervidda was uplifted to its present elevation of about 1200 m after a second phase of uplift that began about 5 Ma, in the early Pliocene. The hard bedrock of Hardangervidda has preserved this part of the plain as an elevated plateau, but the part of the plain that extended across the sediments has been eroded away, exposing the underlying basement rocks. That re‐exposed basement surface was shaped in the Jurassic when the climate was warm and humid. The basement rocks were weathered where rainwater seeped into fracture zones. Erosion of the weathered rocks has left a terrain of fracture valleys and hilly relief that contrasts with the sub‐horizontal plain of Hardangervidda. This weathered landscape is today exposed on the slope between the west coast and Hardangervidda. While the elevation of the mountains is young, today's landscape has a long history.

ABSOLUTE COREGISTRATION AND DOMING CORRECTION IN ADVERSE CONDITIONS, OR HOW TO RETRIEVE SNOW DEPTH FROM DRONE FLIGHTS

Abstract. Doming, a superimposition of a scene-wide dome-shaped bias to the elevation data, is a classical problem in photogrammetry, especially when using the auto-calibration and bundle adjustment typical of the Structure-from-Motion approach. A number of solutions have been proposed, but most rely on a certain degree of freedom in the data acquisition strategy, such as the ability to acquire many ground control points or to acquire additional imagery over the area of interest with different flight parameters.In this paper, we present a method to solve for the dome when working on a snowfield in the Norwegian mountains. That specific situation leads to difficulties to fly the drone optimally and acquire ground control points due to short weather windows, high winds, cold temperatures, low sun angles and short day duration (i.e. high latitudes). Here, we use natural landmarks and pre-existing knowledge about the bare ground topography for removing the inevitable dome.

Mountains of southernmost Norway: uplifted Miocene peneplains and re-exposed Mesozoic surfaces

The origin of the Norwegian mountains (the Scandes) is a key controversy in modern geoscience. Are they remnants from the Caledonian Orogeny, modified shoulders of late Mesozoic rifts, or are they evidence of Neogene uplifts? Our synthesis of geological data, landscape analysis and new thermochronological data from Norway south of c. 60°N, combined with previously published data from southern Sweden, reveals a four-stage history: (1) Middle Triassic and Middle Jurassic exhumation produced a weathered basement surface with a hilly relief; (2) after late Mesozoic rifting, Upper Jurassic–Oligocene sediments accumulated across most of the area; (3) early Miocene uplift and erosion to the base level of the adjacent ocean led to formation of a peneplain that extended across sedimentary basins and Caledonian rocks; the subhorizontal Hardangervidda plateau represents this peneplain; (4) early Pliocene uplift raised Hardangervidda to its present elevation of c. 1200 m above sea-level and led to re-exposure of the tilted, Mesozoic surface at lower elevations. The Southern Scandes are thus, like other elevated passive continental margins around the world, the product of post-breakup uplift. Identification of the mechanisms driving these uplifts awaits geodynamic modelling constrained by observations such as those presented in this study. Supplementary material: Table S1: AFTA data, sample details and associated thermal history interpretations; southernmost Norway. S2: analytical details and thermal history reconstructions for all apatite fission-track analysis (AFTA) samples as well as analytical data for one vitrinite reflectance sample, together with background information on the AFTA technique, are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4085996

Mapping an invisible population: the uneven geography of second-home tourism

ABSTRACTSecond-home tourism is a very popular form of tourism in many countries, particularly in the Nordic countries. More than half of the Swedish population have access to second homes. Previous studies have revealed that there is great variation between different second homes. Examples range from rustic Australian shacks, lonely cabins in the Norwegian mountains, spacious Swedish archipelago villas and palatial Russian dachas. Still, second homes are often seen and analysed as a unitary category – a perspective that obscures the considerable heterogeneity within the category as well as spatial differences in the impact of second-home tourism. Using a second-home typology from previous research and data on about 660,000 second homes, we analyse the heterogeneity of second homes by mapping the composition of the Swedish second-home stock. Results show the uneven geography of second-home tourism, revealing significant and sometimes steep differences between peripheral areas and urban hinterlands, tourism hot-spots, and areas in decline. Based on these results, we assert that there is good cause to move away from using second homes as a unitary category. Instead, we argue for viewing second homes as an umbrella concept with dwelling use in focus. This enables a greater sensibility to place and more accurate analyses of the uneven impacts of second-home tourism. The results also give greater insights into the impact of the ‘invisible population’ of second-home owners from a public planning perspective.

Composition and spatial structure of dwarf shrub heath in Norway

ABSTRACTDetailed descriptions of individual vegetation types shown on vegetation maps can improve the ways in which the composition and spatial structure within the types are understood. The authors therefore examined dwarf shrub heath, a vegetation type covering large areas and found in many parts of the Norwegian mountains. They used data from point samples obtained in a wall-to-wall area frame survey. The point sampling method provided data that gave a good understanding of the composition and structure of the vegetation type, but also revealed a difference between variation within the vegetation type itself (intra-class variation) and variation resulting from the inclusion of other types of vegetation inside the map polygons (landscape variation). Intra-class variation reflected differences in the botanical composition of the vegetation type itself, whereas landscape variation represented differences in the land-cover composition of the broader landscape in which the vegetation type was found. Both types of variation were related to environmental gradients. The authors conclude that integrated point sampling method is an efficient way to achieve increased understanding of the content of a vegetation map and can be implemented as a supporting activity during a survey.

Slush Mountain by B. R. Lie

Lie, Bjørn R. Slush Mountain. Vancouver: Simply Read Books, 2016. Print. It’s a clear, crisp morning on Slush Mountain. There’s not a cloud in the sky and the fresh snow shines in the sunlight.This basic yet delightfully illustrated book tells the simple pleasures of a day in the village and the slopes of Slush Mountain, located somewhere in the Norwegian mountains. Previously published in Norwegian under the title Slapsefjell, author-illustrator and graphic artist Bjørn Rune Lie gives us a day in the life of a busy resort town from the perspective of locals and visitors alike.Beginning in the morning, we start out on the Nordic tracks with cross-country skiers. But there are also white knuckle slopes and moguls for those interested in a little more speed. Throughout the day we visit Frostbite Fish Pond, watch loggers in the Sluggerdale Forest, travel up along the Gutsy Pines Gondola and the Chilly Winds Chairlift and take part in the exhilarating Slush Mountain Rally, replete with vintage snowmobiles. There are loads of eccentric characters with names like Bruce “the Spruce” Crampon, “Snow Blind” Jefferson and Michael Mittens, who much to my kids’ delight, spots a rare three-headed giant hummingbird while seated in the outdoor privy. The day is finished off in a cozy cabin while a family plays a board game while drinking hot chocolate.While there is no real plot, the nostalgic, retro-inspired illustrations are fun to look at and have lots of detail to engage even the youngest readers. Humans and animals alike are enjoying themselves on the slopes, the rally, and the hotel dance. My children noted that the skiers were not wearing helmets but understood that the bygone era in the artwork represented a different time in terms of alpine safety. This is a fun, sweet book that would be a nice gift for snow-loving kids and perfect for an elementary school library.Recommended: 3 stars out of 4 Reviewer: Debbie FeisstDebbie is a Public Services Librarian at the H.T. Coutts Education Library at the University of Alberta. When not renovating, she enjoys travel, fitness and young adult fiction.

Landscape changes in Norwegian mountains: Increased and decreased accessibility, and their driving forces

Accessibility is a central issue for human activity, particularly in mountain areas. We investigate changes in physical accessibility in a Western Norwegian mountain area during the past 40–60 years and identify driving forces of changes. Changes in accessibility were measured as changes in travel time between permanently and seasonally inhabited farmsteads. Additionally, travel time from new access points in the mountains was calculated. C.75% of the investigated access routes to seasonal farmsteads have remained unchanged due to continued use or maintenance work, or been slightly improved due to development of paths into roads. In addition, new access routes have emerged as a result of road construction. Regrowth of paths due to abandonment of seasonal farming has reduced accessibility. Changes in accessibility have led to a concentration of activities in more easily accessibly parts of the study area. Documented changes in accessibility result from a complex interaction of driving forces that initiate or influence change. Important drivers interacting with road construction and abandonment of seasonal farming can be categorized as socio-economic, political and technological. However, the importance of culturally rooted commitment of local people or a small number of enthusiasts must not be underestimated.

Music, Landscape, and the Sound of Place

One of the most poignant scenes in Ken Russell’s 1968 film Delius: Song of Summer evocatively depicts the ailing composer being carried in a wicker chair to the summit of the mountain behind his Norwegian cabin. From here, Delius can gaze one final time across the broad Gudbrandsdal and watch the sun set behind the distant Norwegian fells. Contemplating the centrality of Norway in Delius’s output, however, raises more pressing questions of musical meaning, representation, and our relationship with the natural environment. It also inspires a more complex awareness of landscape and our sense of place, both historical and imagined, as a mode of reception and an interpretative tool for approaching Delius’s music. This essay focuses on one of Delius’s richest but most critically neglected works, The Song of the High Hills for orchestra and wordless chorus, composed in 1911 but not premiered until 1920. Drawing on archival materials held at the British Library and the Grainger Museum, Melbourne, I examine the music’s compositional genesis and critical reception. Conventionally heard (following Thomas Beecham and Eric Fenby) as an imaginary account of a walking tour in the Norwegian mountains, The Song of the High Hills in fact offers a multilayered response to ideas of landscape and nature. Moving beyond pictorial notions of landscape representation, I draw from recent critical literature in cultural geography to account for the music’s sense of place. Hearing The Song of the High Hills from this perspective promotes a keener understanding of our phenomenological engagement with sound and the natural environment, and underscores the parallels between Delius’s work and contemporary developments in continental philosophy, notably the writing of Henri Bergson.

The Yellow Flower of Norway: Trauma and Repetition in Hans Henny Jahnn'sPerrudja

In Hans Henny Jahnn's Perrudja (1929), the eponymous hero, who is the world's richest man and lives alone in the Norwegian mountains, is repeatedly thwarted in his attempts to pursue romantic absolution by what he describes as his predestination to romantic failure. He explains this predestination via the metaphor of the “gelbe Blume,” with which he identifies himself. In this essay, I argue that Perrudja's self-identification as “gelbe Blume,” and his repeated, ritualized enactments of romantic failure, represent the performance of a repetition compulsion that has its roots in trauma. Perrudja compulsively repeats his alienation within a homosocial triangle, in which he always plays the role of vanquished rival. It is only with respect to his special relationship with animals that Perrudja is able to overcome the ritualized repetition of repressed trauma and to live authentically.

New Insights into the Formation of Old Norwegian Mountains

Researchers look to minerals in rocks from Norway's Western Gneiss Region to determine when the mountain-making period came to a close in the region.

A hybrid snipe Gallinago gallinago × G. media found in the wild

A hybrid snipe male was observed and caught in 2009 in the Norwegian mountains. We report behaviour, vocalizations, morphology, and genetic data for this bird. Mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequenc ...

The telltale potency of a simple milligram of charcoal found in a hearth left by Mesolithic reindeer hunters in the Norwegian mountains

The discovery and excavation of superimposed, information-rich Pre-Boreal hunting sites around the mountain lakes of Myrvatn and Fløyrlivatn in Southwest Norway have been the subject of archaeological debate. A brief review of research is presented here. In contrast to the well-preserved sites, settlement remains of a diametrically different order occur in the strongly water-eroded zone of the lakeshores: small, surface hearths in almost every stage of preservation, from evident hearths to diffuse and irregular scatters of fire-cracked stones. The latter category seems generally underestimated as a source of evidence. However, recent finds at Myrvatn demonstrate how even blurred, heavily eroded and almost intangible hearth remains, by the support of wood anatomical analysis, radiocarbon dating and intra-site comparison, may reveal concise, invaluable information both about the history of local use and regional landscape development.

The Response of Alpine Salix Shrubs to Long-Term Browsing Varies with Elevation and Herbivore Density

The widespread expansion of shrubs into arctic and alpine regions has frequently been linked to climatic warming, but herbivory can play a role in addition to, or in interaction with, climate. Willow (Salix spp.) shrubs are important constituents of alpine ecosystems, influencing community structure and providing habitat and forage for many species. We investigate the impact of browsing by domestic sheep (Ovis aries), the dominant herbivore in Norwegian mountains, on Salix stem density, height, and radial growth. We used a field experiment, replicated along an elevational gradient, with manipulated densities of sheep (no sheep, low density, and high density at 0, 25, and 80 sheep km-2). We found that Salix shoot density and radial growth were greatest at high sheep density but only at low elevations, indicating that competition from field-layer vegetation at lower sheep densities reduced Salix performance. At higher elevations Salix shoot density and radial growth were lower at high sheep density than at low sheep density and in the absence of sheep. Thus at high elevations sheep browsing is likely to slow the expansion of Salix shrubs, whilst the removal of browsing is likely to constrain Salix expansion at lower elevations.

What compensates the topography of southern Norway? Insights from thermo-isostatic modeling

The origin of the high topography of the Norwegian Mountains is currently much debated. Several geophysical studies show that the uppermost mantle below southern Norway has anomalously low velocities as compared to other parts of the Baltic Shield. This study aims to shed lights on the structure of the lithospheric mantle below southern Norway by adapting and further refining a method based on isostatic and thermal equilibrium to compute temperature, temperature-related density and synthetic S-wave velocity in stable continental domains. The one-dimensional steady-state heat equation is used with topographic, Moho depth, crustal density and surface heat flow data. A condition of local isostasy is assumed and geoid undulations are used to constrain the range of possible lithosphere models.Results derived from this method suggest a thickening of the thermal lithosphere below southern Norway from west to east. The western part is found to have higher temperatures, lower densities and lower synthetic S-wave velocities than the eastern part, compatible with results from a recent P-wave travel time residual study. Comparison of the synthetic shear-velocity profiles beneath southwestern Norway with velocity profiles inverted from Rayleigh wave dispersion data suggests that the higher temperatures associated with a thinner lithosphere can explain parts of the seismic low-velocity anomaly.The inferred lithospheric structure is sensitive to uncertainties in the crustal input model, but the main features remain undisturbed by changes in the input data. The results show that the lithosphere of southwestern Norway can be in local isostatic equilibrium, if it is thinner and warmer than the lithosphere of eastern Norway. The present-day high topography may therefore be partially sustained by lower densities in the mantle lithosphere.

RECORDINGS IN REVIEW

1 8 2 Y R E C O R D I N G S I N R E V I E W D E W E Y F A U L K N E R January 2012 is the 150th anniversary of the birth of Frederick Delius, a composer whose music you either love or hate, usually passionately. On the surface the music is not di≈cult to appreciate, at least until you begin to examine it closely. Everyone agrees that it’s beautiful. Delius haters will claim that it vanishes into formless air, without melody or vigor or structure. Delius lovers will claim that it generates its own forms, its own melodies, its own momentum. The music, most of it symphonic and much with voices, throws over most conventions and rules of composition and takes advantage of post-Wagnerian chromaticism without wallowing in dissonance for the sake of producing ugly sounds. It is modern without being obnoxious, and in being so it flies in the face of much of the past century of musical development. Structurally, Delius abandons all conventional forms except variations. He uses neither full melodies nor themes to develop music. In Sir Thomas Beecham’s phrase, ‘‘Delius eliminated the ‘development section.’ ’’ He does so by starting with mildly dissonant chords containing numerous unconventional notes that allow him to ‘‘modulate’’ as he wishes. The chords are shaped into 1 8 3 R snatches of melody that dissolve and reappear depending on where Delius’s imagination leads him. As Christopher Palmer notes, ‘‘The essential quality of Delius’ chromaticism is that the harmony is chromatic, the melody not.’’ All this is clothed in an iridescent orchestral garb, in which a huge orchestra is deployed in a restrained way, with each note in a motif, often each within a chord, having its own instrumental color. Delius’s pieces nearly all begin imperceptibly and finally die away, like organisms in nature. Between these markers the sound of his forces is exceptionally beautiful, always, though with a beauty tinged by awareness of loss and sorrow and regret. There are few noisy a≈rmations and almost no happy endings. The music has an uncanny ability to evoke mood and place, whether twilight across vast ranges of Norwegian mountains or the heat and humidity of dying afternoons in the American South. More than almost any other composer, Delius created the landscapes he saw in his memory. Sitting in a landscape and listening to Delius, listeners find that nature and music are continuous, somehow identical. It is an e√ect almost unique in music. Delius first absorbed nature into music in America, specifically in northeast Florida. In March 1884, at age twenty-two, he went to Jacksonville with his brother to set up an orange plantation south of the city on the broad St. John’s River. Then in September 1885 he moved north to Danville, Virginia, where he taught violin during the 1885–86 school year to young ladies at the Roanoke Female College. Both Jacksonville and Danville were modest southern cities, recovering well twenty years after the end of the war. Jacksonville was a thriving Atlantic port and Danville, long a major center for tobacco on the Virginia–North Carolina border, had erected the Dan River Mills in 1882, making it a growing center for cotton as well. On the river in Florida in the lengthening spring and summer twilights, Delius would hear black singers from neighboring plantations . The words were probably lost, but the melodies and harmonies impressed themselves deeply on the young Englishman, along with the light, the heat, the humidity, the languor of evenings and darkness. In Virginia he heard black singers in the tobacco stemmeries and the cotton mills and added specific tunes 1 8 4 F A U L K N E R Y and words to his memories, some of which he would use later. It is claimed that Delius discovered himself musically in America. Yes, but the America he discovered and internalized was the South. Delius published his first piano composition in Jacksonville in 1885, but his orchestral composing began only in 1887, in Leipzig. Most of his work from 1887 to 1899 consisted...