Project Fjellviten

In the spring of 2024, the DNB Savings Bank Foundation awarded NOK 20 million to Project Fjellviten. Norsk Fjellsenter/The Norwegian Mountain Center and Klimapark 2469, together with several leading research institutions, will develop “the world’s most important classroom” — using the high mountains as a learning arena.

The main goal of Project Fjellviten is to communicate and share knowledge about climate and nature in a changing high‑mountain environment through the digitalization of climate monitoring and new communication technology. The primary target group is young people and young adults.

FaCTS

Period: 2024–2027

Project owner: Norsk Fjellsenter

Project managers: Mai Bakken and Thea Dalen

Project team: Jakob Thorbek, Live Heldal Hagen, Merete Dagsgard, Olav Tøfte, Karoline Mjønes and Live Sulheim

Funding: The project is funded by the DNB Savings Bank Foundation with NOK 20 million

““No one will protect what they don’t care about, and no one will care about what they have never experienced.”
”

— David Attenborough

About the project

Several of the initiators behind the project are leading researchers on how climate change and human activity affect high‑mountain ecosystems, and what consequences these changes may have.

In this project, the scientific team at Norsk Fjellsenter/The Norwegian Mountain Center, together with these research institutions, aims to create an experience‑based learning arena where visitors can explore the unique high‑mountain environment, work with up‑to‑date research data, and take part in developing new knowledge for a more sustainable future.

OUR GOALS

To broaden our outreach towards young people and young adults, and engage them in observing and actively participating in ongoing research through knowledge involvement.
To make accessible the nationally and internationally significant knowledge and values managed by the project’s partner institutions.

To build the competence needed to navigate change, enabling us to consciously think in terms of solutions to the major challenges we face today.
To create arenas for collaboration and dialogue between different actors and decision‑makers.

The project will use a variety of arenas and tools to communicate knowledge about climate and nature in the high mountains, with a strong focus on research. What happens to mountain ecosystems as the climate changes, and how can we better understand both the changes and the possible solutions?

The project will run for four years and is led by Norsk Fjellsenter in Lom. It will develop and implement digital platforms for research communication and real‑time data transfer, strengthen the facilities for learning and collaboration at Norsk Fjellsenter, and create activities and arenas for dialogue, debate, and knowledge involvement.

The combined effect of all these changes is challenging for the vulnerable ecosystems of the high mountains, and there is a strong need to bring these issues to the forefront of public debate. Norway has committed, through the Nature Agreement, to halting the loss of nature.

Photo: Yngve Vogt / Apollon, University of Oslo

Nature has always been in flux, but today ecosystems and landscapes are changing in new ways — and faster than before. It is not only climate change that threatens the ecosystems of the high mountains; land use, pollution, invasive species, and other human activities and interventions also play a significant role.

Photo: Live Sulheim / Norsk fjellsenter

Here, species live at the very limits of what they can tolerate, and even small changes in temperature can have major consequences. There are now 106 species in Norway that are threatened primarily due to climate change, and 57 of these are associated with mountain environments.

Photo: Yngve Vogt / Apollon, University of Oslo

Ecosystems under pressure

Nature is shaped both by climate and by the interactions between species. This complex interplay takes place in all ecosystems, including the high mountains. Mountain ecosystems are among the most vulnerable.

Photo: Jan Stokstad

Project researchers

Anders Bryn

Natural History Museum, University of Oslo

Professor – Geo‑Ecology Research Group, Natural History Museum, University of Oslo

E-mail: anders.bryn@nhm.uio.no

In the Fjellviten project, the goal is to improve our understanding of the relationships between plants and permafrost as the climate changes.

To investigate this, researchers will establish observation plots with passive climate chambers (Open Top Chambers) and monitor changes in plant diversity in the years to come.

Bernd Etzelmüller

Department of Geosciences, University of Oslo

Head of Department at the Department of Geosciences (UiO) and Professor of Physical Geography

E-mail: bernd.etzelmuller@geo.uio.no

Bernd Etzelmüller is a physical geographer known for his work in geomorphology, geohazards, and climate research. He has focused particularly on the study of glaciers and permafrost, and how these systems are affected by climate change.

Etzelmüller has been involved in numerous research projects in Arctic and alpine regions, with a special emphasis on high‑mountain environments in Norway, Svalbard, and Iceland.

Associate Professor Rune Strand Ødegård, NTNU, has been active in research on permafrost and glaciers in Jotunheimen since the 1980s.

He has contributed to the research network and to Klimapark 2469 since its inception.

Rune Strand Ødegård

NTNU/Norwegian University of Science and Technolog

Associate Professor

E-mail: rune.oedegaard@ntnu.no

Liss Marie Andreassen

NVE/Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate

Researcher with professorial competence (PhD)

E-mail: lma@nve.no

Liss began the glaciological measurements at Juvfonne in 2010 and measures it several times each year. She is also responsible for monitoring three glaciers in Jotunheimen: Storbreen in Leirdalen, Hellstugubreen in Visdalen, and Gråsubreen in Veodalen.

Within the Fjellviten project, she will work with data from Juvfonne and other glaciers and perennial snow patches.

Atle Nesje

University of Bergen (UiB) and the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research

Professor Emeritus at the Department of Earth Science, UiB, and affiliated with the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research.

E-mail: atle.nesje@uib.no

Nesje primarily works on dating organic horizons inside the ice tunnel to determine the age of the ice in Juvfonne.

He is also involved in sampling and analysing the sediments deposited at the bottom of Juvvatnet.

Jørgen Rosvold

NINA/the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research

Research Director

E-mail: jorgen.rosvold@nina.no

Rosvold works with animals ranging from microorganisms to reindeer, focusing on species that actively use glaciers and perennial snow patches as habitat or resting areas.

In the Fjellviten project, we will test the use of wildlife cameras to identify which birds and mammals spend time on the ice — and what they are doing there.

Ketil Isaksen

Norwegian Meteorological Institute

Senior Researcher

E-mail: ketili@met.no

In Fjellviten, Ketil contributes by making climate and permafrost data from Jotunheimen and the surrounding region accessible, and he takes an active role in the project’s research communication.

A key contribution is his work on establishing and instrumenting the two new permafrost boreholes at Juvflye and Dugurdskampen.

Data from these sites are prepared for near real‑time access and form an important basis for monitoring climate and environmental change in the high‑mountain areas of Jotunheimen.

Jostein Bakke

Department of Earth Science and the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, University of Bergen

Professor

E-mail: jostein.bakke@uib.no

Bakke is a glacial geomorphologist and head of the national research infrastructure EARTHLAB at the University of Bergen. His work focuses on climate change in polar regions, using lakes as archives of past climate.

He applies a range of methods — including geophysics, DNA analyses, biomarkers, and CT‑scanning — to reconstruct environmental conditions of the past.

In Fjellviten, Jostein will contribute to the study of sediments from Juvvatnet. These sediments can be used to reconstruct the history of Juvfonna all the way back to the last ice age.

The plan is to first carry out a geophysical survey of the lake, followed by sediment coring from the lake bottom. It may also be relevant to drill into the permafrost and sample the ice to determine its age.

Espen Finstad

Innlandet County Municipality

Archaeologist with main responsibility for the glacial archaeology safeguarding programme in Innlandet (Secrets of the Ice).

E-mail: espfin@innlandetfylke.no

Finstad has worked as an archaeologist in Innlandet County Municipality (formerly Oppland) for 25 years. Over the past 20 years, his main focus has been glacial archaeology and the cultural heritage of the high mountains.

He was involved in initiating the glacial archaeology programme and in the establishment of Klimaparken.

Julia Lutz

Norwegian Meteorological Institute

Julia works in the Department of Model and Climate Analysis at the Norwegian Meteorological Institute in Oslo. She has worked with statistical modelling and climate analysis for several years. Through her work, she has contributed to various projects on the Arctic climate and the impacts of climate change on the region.