ABSTRACTRecent mapping of the surface and the bed of Mikkaglaciären by aerial photography and radio-echo techniques, respectively, provide a basis for calculations of flow mechanics and for further understanding of its sensitivity to climate change.Along a transverse profile on the tongue of the glacier the velocity decreased to about 50 % between 1900 and 1960. This decrease was caused by a general thinning of the glacier and is in remarkably good agreement with a simple laminar-flow theory.Study of ice flow and climatic records suggests that the glacier was in an unstable condition at its last maximum, which is surprising since its extension at that time was very close to its Holocene maximum. Studies of the annual net ablation gradient from recent years and also from the turn of the century suggest values around 0.012 m/m. Given these values, the profile could not have been in a steady state. A gradient of ca 0.002 m/m would have been required to produce the shape of the 1900-glacier.