Iceland glaciers
The glacier in Iceland cover large parts of the island, a total of about eleven percent of the land surface. They therefore significantly shape the landscape of Iceland . The word jökull means glacier in Iceland and can therefore be found in the name of almost every glacier.
Interaction between glaciers and volcanoes
There are volcanoes under practically all of Iceland's glaciers . The most famous and active of these volcanoes are located under the largest glacier, Vatnajökull . Under him lie u. a. the volcanoes Grímsvötn and Bárðarbunga . The caldera of the Grímsvötn covers approx. 100 km², that of the Bárðarbunga still about 60 km².
The over-glaciated volcanoes have triggered numerous glacier runs , tidal waves that arise as a result of the melting of the glaciers during volcanic eruptions and sometimes reach devastating proportions. In addition, the ice cover over the volcanoes results in a tendency to phreatomagmatic eruptions .
The global warming of the last few years is causing the Icelandic glaciers to melt rather quickly, so that geologists fear that volcanic activity could increase in Iceland in the next few years. According to geologist Erik Sturkell, Iceland's glaciers lost over 300 km³ of ice between 1890 and 2011.
Sea and glacier
Due to the sub-Arctic climate, some glaciers calve almost at sea level, for example Breiðamerkurjökull , which feeds the famous glacial lake Jökulsárlón and the nearby Breiðárlón .
Aerial view of parts of Vatnajokull
Ice cave in Kverkfjöll
Crevasse in Iceland
Satellite image of Iceland in summer, the glaciers are clearly visible as white spots
Fjallsárlón
The largest glaciers in Iceland
The 13 largest glaciers in Iceland |
| rank | glacier | Area km² |
Volume km³ |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vatnajokull | 8300 | 3000 |
| 2 | Langjokull | 953 | 195 |
| 3 | Hofsjokull | 925 | 208 |
| 4th | Myrdalsjokull | 596 | 140 |
| 5 | Drangajokull | 160 | |
| 6th | Eyjafjallajokull | 78 | |
| 7th | Tungnafellsjokull | 48 | |
| 8th | Thórisjokull | 32 | |
| 9 | Eiríksjökull | 22nd | |
| 10 | Þrándarjökull | 22nd | |
| 11 | Tindfjallajokull | 19th | |
| 12 | Torfajokull | 15th | |
| 13 | Snæfellsjökull | 11 |
See also
literature
- Þorleifur Einarsson: Geology of Iceland. Rocks and landscapes. 3rd, German edition. Mál og Menning publishing house, Reykjavík 1994, ISBN 9979-3-0690-4 .
- Ari Trausti Guðmundsson , Halldór Kjartansson: Land in becoming. An outline of the geology of Iceland. Vaka-Helgafell, Reykjavík 2007, ISBN 978-9979-2-0347-6 .
- Ari Trausti Guðmundsson: Volcanoes in Iceland. 10,000 Years of Volcanic History. Vaka-Helgafell, Reykjavík 1996, ISBN 9979-2-0348-X .
- Oddur Sigurðsson, RS Williams Jr .: Geographic names of Iceland's glaciers: Historic and modern. (= US Geological Survey Professional Paper. 1746). 2008, ISBN 978-0-607-97815-5 .
- Á. Geirsdóttir: Pliocene and Pleistocene Glaciations of Iceland: A Brief Overview of the Glacial History. In: J. Ehlers, PL Gibbard, PD Hughes (Eds.): Developments in Quaternary Science. Vol. 15, Amsterdam, The Netherlands 2011, ISBN 978-0-444-53447-7 , pp. 199-210.
- Veðurstofa Íslands: Jöklakort af Íslandi með nafnaskrá, uppfærðum hæðarlínum og hnitum. Map of the glaciers of Iceland with names, updated contour lines and coordinates. Reykjavik 2013, ISBN 978-9979-9975-5-9 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Erik Sturkell: Impact on crustal deformation. Magmatic and tectonic processes of glacier thinning due to climate change. ( Memento of the original from November 9, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English); Accessed August 11, 2011.
- ↑ C. Pagli, F. Sigmundsson: Will present day glacier retreat increase volcanic activity? Stress induced by recent glacier retreat and its effect on magmatism at the Vatnajökull ice cap, Iceland. In: Geophys. Res. Lett. Vol. 35, 2008, L09304, doi: 10.1029 / 2008GL033510 .
Web links
Photos and videos
Scientific contributions
To glaciology
- Univ. Iceland: Recent studies on the glacier shields of Iceland (Icelandic, PDF file with 3D images, 712 kB)
To volcanism
- A. Hooper, Benedikt Ófeigsson, Freysteinn Sigmundsson, Björn Lund, Páll Einarsson, Halldór Geirsson, Erik Sturkell: Increased capture of magma in the crust promoted by ice-cap retreat in Iceland. In: Nature Geoscience . 2011. doi: 10.1038 / ngeo1269 .
- On the relationship between climate change and volcanic activity under Icelandic glaciers, summary on Pagli / Sigmundsson (English)
- Erik Sturkell: Impact on crustal deformation. Magmatic and tectonic processes of glacier thinning due to climate change.
Other
- Summary: name Icelandic glacier (English)