Monacobreen, Seligerbreen and EmmabreenMonacobreen is a tidewater glacier in northwestern Svalbard which terminates in Liefdefjorden. The roughly 40 km long glacier is an outlet of the Isachsenfonna highland icefield. It underwent an active surge phase in the early 1990s. Until recently, its terminus was in contact with Seligerbreen. Since 2016 the two calving fronts have become separated as a result of glacier recession. Older maps show Monacobreen and Seligerbreen additionally in contact with Emmabreen, a 6.5 km long valley glacier entering Liefdefjorden from the east. The latter seemed to be advancing and actively surging during the summer of 2016. All photos on this page were taken on July 9th, 2016. | |||
 Liefdefjorden with Monacobreen, Seligerbreen and Emmabreenn (from left to right) as seen from about 200 m.a.s.l. west of “Texas Bar”. The white area in the foreground is ice on a proglacial lake, dammed by a terminal moraine associated with Erikbreen. |  Panorama view of Seligerbreen (centre) and eastern part of Monacobreen (far left). |  Approaching Monacobreen from the north on a sunny and exceptionally warm day in northern Svalbard. |  Icebergs and calving front of Monacobreen. |
 Recently, a small new island, Nyholmen (“new island”) emerged in Liefdefjorden as a result of recession of Monacobreen. |  View from Nyholmen towards Seligerbreen (left) and Emmabreen (right). |  True right-hand side of Monacobreen’s terminus. Considerable amounts of slow-moving or stagnant ice remain under the moraine cover. |  Detail of the calving front near the true right-hand margin of Monacobreen, showing prominent thrust-planes uplifting debris from the bed. |
 Masses of bergy bits near the calving front of Monacobreen. |  Remarkably green iceberg in front of Monacobreen. |  Blue iceberg with complex shape, recently calved off Monacobreen. |  Detail of blue iceberg in front of Monacobreen; note fulmar in the foreground. |
 The intricate shapes of a blue iceberg are accentuated by the sunlight shining through it. |  Iceberg with prominent foliation structure, together with seabirds in front of Monacobreen. |  Tourist boat passing behind an iceberg recently produced by Monacobreen. |  Glaucous gulls on an iceberg near Monacobreen. |
 Calving front of Seligerbreen. The strange grey object in the left foreground is not a rock, but an iceberg stained by fine debris. |  Clouds start to form around the peaks in the accumulation area of Seligerbreen. |  Emmabreen’s advance is evident from its steep tongue, in particular on the true left side (right in the photo). |  True left side of advancing Emmabreen. It probably is in an active surge phase, as indicated by the steep front and a small push moraine (lower left). |
 High resolution panorama of the snout of Emmabreen. A terminal moraine is just barely visible, separating a proglacial lake or bay from Liefdefjorden. | |||
| All photos copyright J. Alean | |||