The IGS Nordic Branch is the second oldest IGS branch. The announcement of the formation of the branch was reported in the first issue of ICE in 1972, no.38 p.24. At a meeting held on 19 April 1972, the Council of the Society approved the statutes of the branch ‘for members resident in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden’.
The Inaugural Meeting was advertised in the second issue of ICE in 1972, no.39 p.20. The date for the meeting was set for 22 – 24 September 1972 and it was held at the in the Naturgeografiska lnstitutionen of Stockholm University as reported in the third issue of ICE 1972 number 40 pp20. The meeting was chaired by Prof. Valter Schytt, who had taken the initiative in forming the Branch.
The proposed constitution had been approved by the Council of the International Glaciological Society in April 1972, and, in accordance with that constitution,
elections of officers of the Branch took place. W. Dansgaard was elected as the first president of the branch and Olaf Orheim was elected as vice-president.
The second meeting was supposedly held in Narssarssuak, South Greenland.
Unfortunately, we have not been able to locate a report from that meeting.
Altogether there were five Nordic Branch meetings held during the first age of the branch, the fifth in Iceland from 18-24 June 1978.
The second age of the branch started with a revival meeting of the IGS Nordic Branch Meeting. After some years in hibernation, what is hoped to be an annual event was proposed and organized by Jon Ove Hagen, Mike Kennett and Jack Kohler, all at NVE (Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Commission), Oslo. This ‘revival’ meeting was reported in the 1st issue of ICE in 1994, number 104 pp5.