- Region: Svalbard, North-East Land
- Area: 8,492 square kilometers. km
- Thickness: 560 m
The territory of Norway has absorbed a variety of natural attractions, including the Austfonna glacier or Ostfonna, as it is called, located on Spitsbergen.
What is Ostfond?
Naturally, everyone has heard about the warming of the world's oceans, the melting of glaciers and other frightening facts, which few people pay attention to in ordinary life. And it is the Ostfonne glacier, which is the second largest in Europe and the seventh - in the world, actively participates in the sinking of land.
This glacier looks like a huge ice cap covering the eastern part of one of the islands of the Spitsbergen archipelago - the Northeast Land. Occupying an area of about 8500 square meters. km, on the one hand the glacier descends to the Barents Sea at 30 m. The ice thickness at the moment is 560 m.
Unfortunately, every day the Ostfond glacier on Spitsbergen becomes smaller - its thickness noticeably melts. Since 2012, it has become thinner by as much as 50 m. Melting and deepening of the glacier: Ostfonna slips into the water at a speed of 4 km per year, whereas recently this speed was not more than 150 m per year.
How to see a melting glacier?
Nowhere on the planet is there such a crystal, bewitching icy beauty. Because many people want to see it with their own eyes. To come to Svalbard to Ostfonna glacier, you can contact Norwegians or Russians - they are the ones who organize such excursions . From Oslo, the plane will take you to Longyearbyen airport , and then the road accompanied by a guide will go on a snowmobile. For daredevils going on a trip from Russia, they organize a cruise on the liner "Captain Khlebnikov" - this is the most comfortable variant of the trip. The cost of such a pleasure is about $ 5000.