Myrdalsjokull
| Myrdalsjokull | ||
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 Aerial view of Mýrdalsjökull from the north in July 2009 |
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| location | South of Iceland | |
| Type | Plateau glacier | |
| surface | 596 km² | |
| Altitude range | 1505 m - 100 m | |
| Ice thickness | ⌀ 230 m; Max. 740 m | |
| Ice volume | 140,000,000 km³ | |
| Coordinates | 63 ° 38 ′ N , 19 ° 3 ′ W | |
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| particularities | Caldera of Katla under the glacier | |
 Myrdalsjokull seen from the south |
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 Solheimajökull, an outlet glacier from Mýrdalsjökull |
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Mýrdalsjökull [ ˈmirtalsˌjœːkʏtl̥ ] is a plateau glacier in southern Iceland .
With an area of 596 km² it is the fourth largest glacier in Iceland. It covers the approximately 100 km² large caldera of the Katla volcano .
Surname
Mýrdalsjökull means "glacier of the swampy valley". This term is used not only for the actual glacier, but also for the mountain range as a whole, similar to other Icelandic glaciers such as neighboring Eyjafjallajökull . In contrast to this, the volcano under Mýrdalsjökull has its own name, namely Katla .
Position and shape
Mýrdalsjökull, the southernmost glacier in Iceland, is located north of Skógar and Vík í Mýrdal and south of Torfajökull . Between Mýrdalsjökull and the western glaciers Eyjafjallajökull and Tindfjallajökull lies the Goðaland valley , which is often attributed to Þórsmörk . The sand area Mýrdalssandur extends southeast of Mýrdalsjökull .
The central part of the glacier is formed by a plateau at an altitude of around 1300 m , framed by the higher edges with the highest peaks at Goðabunga ( 1505 m ) and Háabunga ( 1497 m ) as well as the Nunatakkern Austmannsbunga ( 1377 m ) and Kötlukollar ( 1320 m) ). Underneath is the approximately 100 km² large Katla caldera . On the south and west sides, steep outlet glaciers flow down from there to heights between 100 and 800 meters. Wider outlet glaciers flow eastwards down to about 200 to 400 meters. The northern flank is covered by a large glacier tongue that extends down to about 600 meters. The outlet glaciers Sléttjökull and Entujökull are in the northwest, Króssárjökull and Tungnakvíslajökull in the west and Sólheimajökull in the southwest. The most important outlet glacier in the east is the Kötlujökull .
The circular caldera located under the glacier has a diameter of 700 meters and a diameter of 20 kilometers, at the base it is 30 to 35 kilometers. The bottom of the caldera is at a height of about 650 meters, about 700 meters below the edge. The edge of the caldera is oval, the long axis measures 14 kilometers and runs from southeast to northwest, the short axis is 8 kilometers long.
Katla volcano
(See main article: Katla )
Under the broad shield of Mýrdalsjökull is the Katla volcano with a crater diameter of around 10 kilometers, the depth of the caldera is around 500 to 700 m. The caldera, which was formed in a large explosive eruption around 10,000 years ago, is completely filled with glacial ice.
During volcanic eruptions of the Katla, depending on the intensity of the eruption, more or less large parts of the glacier thaw and tidal waves pour out as so-called glacier runs over the upstream plains, especially over the Mýrdalssandur.
Glacial rivers
The glacier feeds several rivers. In addition to some tributaries of the Markarfljót, these are the larger rivers Krossá , Jökulsá á Sólheimasandi , Múlakvísl and Hólmsá .
They are constantly monitored with regard to the amount of water, chemical composition and electrical conductivity in order to get an idea of what is happening in the volcano under the glacier.
traffic
Before the expansion of the ring road , crossing the sander upstream of the glacier towards the sea was very unpopular, as one of the glacier runs ( Jökulhlaup in Icelandic ) could always drag travelers with it. Crossing the river-traversed plain could take many days.
Meanwhile, the crossing of the Mýrdalssandur from Vík í Mýrdal to Kirkjubæjarklaustur on a well-developed asphalt road takes about 1 hour.
See also
- Volcanoes in Iceland
- Geography of Iceland
- List of mountains and elevations in Iceland
- Iceland glaciers
Web links
Photos and videos
- Film for information about Katla outbreaks from Almannavarnir (Icelandic civil defense) (Icelandic with English subtitles)
- Video of the glacier run in Múlakvísl, July 2011
- youtube: Sigkatlar í Mýrdalsjökli (Caldera - overflight of two glacial breaks) July 16, 2011
Scientific contributions
- Katla in the Global Volcanism Program of the Smithsonian Institution (English)
- Eldgjá volcanism
- The Katla volcano - Univ. v. Iceland (English / Icelandic)
- Kurt H. Kjær: Mode of subglacial transport deduced from till properties, Mýrdalsjökull, Iceland. Geological Institute, University of Copenhagen. IN: Sedimentary Geology , Vol. 128, Iss. 3-4, Oct. 1999, 271-292 (Science direct, abstract, English)
- Viðauki 2 Myrdalsjökull - Mýrdalssandur. Almenn jarðfræði. Yfirlit yfir Mýrdalsjökul og nágrenni. Unnið fyrir Kötluvikur ehf. Jan. 2002 (Icelandic)
Other
- Off. Information for tourists on the dangers of Mýrdalsjökull (German) (PDF file; 1.34 MB)
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Ulrich Münzer et al .: Integration of Envisat-ASAR Data in a Hazard-Monitoring-GIS Envisat Project [ID 142]. In: Proceedings of the 2004 Envisat & ERS Symposium (ESA SP-572). Salzburg 2004 ( online ( memento of the original from May 23, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note .; PDF; 754 kB)
- ↑ a b c d e H. Björnsson et al .: Surface and bedrock topography of the Mýrdalsjökull ice cap, Iceland: The Katla caldera, eruption sites and routes of jökulhlaups. In: Jökull. No. 49, Reykjavík 2000, pp. 29–46 ( online ; PDF; 1.1 MB)
- ^ Bjarki Friis: Late Holocene Glacial History of Sólheimajökull, Southern Iceland. Dissertation, University of Iceland, 2011 ( online ( memento of the original from March 20, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note .; PDF; 15.0 MB)
- ↑ cf. HU Schmid: Dictionary Icelandic-German. Buske, Hamburg, 2001; P. 163: isl. mýri = moor, swamp , p. 37: isl. dalur = valley ; P. 123: isl. jökull = glacier
- ↑ - ( Memento of the original from April 24, 2010 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.
