Pioneers

by Kay Helfricht, Institute for Interdisciplinary Mountain Research (IGF), Austrian Acadamy of Sciences (ÖAW), Innsbruck, Austria

Engabreen is an outlet glacier of Svartisen ice cap in northern Norway. Its fast retreat in the past years reveals lots of rock surface. Water from rain is trapped in small hollows next to the present glacier margins. In the generally wet region, these hollows are filled with water for most of the time, such that pioneer plants can settle very soon.