On the basis of observation of thin sections and 137Cs data, laminations in sediment are interpreted to be varves in Bolterskardet Lake (78°06' N, 16°01' E), Svalbard, the Arctic. Varves appear under a petrologic microscope as couplets of dark-silt and light-clay layers. The mechanism of varve formation is surmized as follows: each silt layer is the production of sediment inflow interpreted as mainly derived from snowmelt during summer; each clay layer was deposited in a stillwater environment during an ice-cover period. A light -clay layer provides an important index bed to identify the annual interface. The high accumulation rates, long period of ice cover, and topographically closed basin are probably all critical factors in forming and preserving varves. Varve thickness is known to be controlled mainly by summer temperature. The variation of varve thickness in Lake Bolterskardet can then be used to reconstruct summer temperature. The varve series show that there has been distinct decade-scale variability of summer temperature over the past 150 years. Warm periods occurred in the 1860s, around 1900, the 1930s, 1950s, and 1970s, and in the last 20 years. The varved sediments of Lake Bolterskarde preserve an ideal record for high-resolution paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental research in this data-sparse area.