Folgefonna

Folgefonna National Park was established in 2005 in Vestland county, in western Norway, and protects some 545 km² on the Folgefonna peninsula, between the Hardangerfjord and the Sørfjorden.

Its central feature is the ice cap of the same name, Norway's third largest by extent after Jostedalsbreen and Vestre Svartisen, divided into three main glacier bodies. The peninsula is narrow and the sea surrounds it on almost every side, so that the ice sits a very short horizontal distance from the waters of the fjord and at a very low relative altitude, a configuration that makes it especially sensitive to variations in temperature and precipitation.

The altitudinal contrast is abrupt: within a few kilometres one passes from the apple and cherry orchards on the shores of the Hardanger, one of the most characteristic farming landscapes in Norway, to alpine heath and permanent ice. That combination of fruit growing, fjord and glacier in a small space defines the district. The park preserves historic paths that crossed the ice cap between the valleys, and a visitor centre devoted to the glacier and to climate operates on its edge.