The Jotunheimen Research Expeditions have always had fundamental scientific research as its main focus. 

 

The importance of its wide-ranging research can be gauged by over 200 Expedition Contributions, written by more than 60 different scientists, which have been published as research papers in scientific journals and books.  In addition, 22 expedition-based Ph.D. theses have been successfully completed so far.  The expeditions have been characterized, more than any other, by two over-arching research themes.  These are: (1) the investigation of recently-deglaciated terrain (glacier forelands) as field laboratories for research on a wide range of physical geographical and natural environmental topics; and (2) the study of glacier fluctuations, climatic variations and landscape change during the Holocene (i.e. the most recent epoch of Earth's history; the last c. 11,500 years).

Major research projects continue to be undertaken on the following topics:

• reconstructing glacier variations and climate change on decadal to millennial timescales, including early-Holocene glacier advances, Neoglaciation and the `Little Ice Age’ from moraine stratigraphy, lacustrine sediments, mires and tree lines;

• the development and application of dating techniques, including lichenometric dating, dendrochronology, radiocarbon dating, Schmidt-hammer exposure-age dating (SHD) and terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide dating (TCND);

• reconstructing the history of colluvial activity (debris-flow, rockfall and snow avalanche) and floods, including the implications of these hazardous extreme events for Holocene landscape development and climate change;

• geo-ecological investigations on glacier forelands based on the chronosequence concept, including the reconstruction, analysis and testing of theories of vegetation colonization and succession, insect and arachnid succession, and soil development;

• geomorphological studies of glacial, periglacial and paraglacial landforms, including the development of moraines, patterned ground, lake-shorelines, talus slopes, rock glaciers, alluvial fans, and craters formed by snow-avalanche impact;

• the sedimentology of till, colluvium, alluvium and lacustrine deposits and studies of the nature and rate of physical, chemical and biological weathering on rock surfaces and in soils in arctic-alpine environments.