Glaciers of Iceland
Encyclopedia
The glaciers and ice caps of Iceland
cover 11.1% of the land area of the country (about 11,400 km² out of the total area of 103,125 km²) and have a considerable impact on its landscape and meteorology. An ice cap
is an mass of glacial ice that covers less than 50,000 km² of land area covering a highland area and they feed outlet glaciers.
Many Icelandic ice caps and glacier
s lie above volcanoes, such as Grímsvötn
and Bárðarbunga
, which lie under the largest ice cap, Vatnajökull
. The caldera
of Grímsvötn is 100 km² in area, and Bárðarbungu is 60 km².
When volcanic activity occurs under the glacier, the resulting meltwater can lead to a sudden glacial lake outburst flood
, known in Icelandic
as jökulhlaup
, but jökulhlaups are most often caused by accumulation of meltwater due to geothermal activity underneath the glacier. Such jökulhlaups have occasionally triggered volcanic eruptions through the sudden release of pressure.
The Icelandic
word for glacier is jökull.
These 13 largest glaciers have an aggregate area of 11,181 km² (compare to about 11,400 km² for all glaciers of Iceland).
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
cover 11.1% of the land area of the country (about 11,400 km² out of the total area of 103,125 km²) and have a considerable impact on its landscape and meteorology. An ice cap
Ice cap
An ice cap is an ice mass that covers less than 50 000 km² of land area . Masses of ice covering more than 50 000 km² are termed an ice sheet....
is an mass of glacial ice that covers less than 50,000 km² of land area covering a highland area and they feed outlet glaciers.
Many Icelandic ice caps and glacier
Glacier
A glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight...
s lie above volcanoes, such as Grímsvötn
Grímsvötn
The Grímsvötn sub-glacial lakes and the volcano of the same name are in South-East Iceland. They are in the highlands of Iceland at the northwestern side of the Vatnajökull ice-cap. The lakes are at , at an elevation of...
and Bárðarbunga
Bárðarbunga
Bárðarbunga is an Icelandic stratovolcano located under the ice cap of Vatnajökull glacier, rising to 2,009 m above sea level, making it the second highest mountain in Iceland, just about 101 m lower than Hvannadalshnjúkur....
, which lie under the largest ice cap, Vatnajökull
Vatnajökull
Vatnajökull is the largest glacier in Iceland. It is located in the south-east of the island, covering more than 8% of the country.-Size:With an area of 8,100 km², Vatnajökull is the largest ice cap in Europe by volume and the second largest in area Vatnajökull is the largest glacier in...
. The caldera
Caldera
A caldera is a cauldron-like volcanic feature usually formed by the collapse of land following a volcanic eruption, such as the one at Yellowstone National Park in the US. They are sometimes confused with volcanic craters...
of Grímsvötn is 100 km² in area, and Bárðarbungu is 60 km².
When volcanic activity occurs under the glacier, the resulting meltwater can lead to a sudden glacial lake outburst flood
Glacial lake outburst flood
A glacial lake outburst flood is a type of outburst flood that occurs when the dam containing a glacial lake fails. The dam can consist of glacier ice or a terminal moraine...
, known in Icelandic
Icelandic language
Icelandic is a North Germanic language, the main language of Iceland. Its closest relative is Faroese.Icelandic is an Indo-European language belonging to the North Germanic or Nordic branch of the Germanic languages. Historically, it was the westernmost of the Indo-European languages prior to the...
as jökulhlaup
Jökulhlaup
A jökulhlaup is a glacial outburst flood. It is an Icelandic term that has been adopted by the English language. It originally referred to the well-known subglacial outburst floods from Vatnajökull, Iceland which are triggered by geothermal heating and occasionally by a volcanic subglacial...
, but jökulhlaups are most often caused by accumulation of meltwater due to geothermal activity underneath the glacier. Such jökulhlaups have occasionally triggered volcanic eruptions through the sudden release of pressure.
The Icelandic
Icelandic language
Icelandic is a North Germanic language, the main language of Iceland. Its closest relative is Faroese.Icelandic is an Indo-European language belonging to the North Germanic or Nordic branch of the Germanic languages. Historically, it was the westernmost of the Indo-European languages prior to the...
word for glacier is jökull.
Largest glaciers by surface area
| Glacier or Ice Cap | Area Area Area is a quantity that expresses the extent of a two-dimensional surface or shape in the plane. Area can be understood as the amount of material with a given thickness that would be necessary to fashion a model of the shape, or the amount of paint necessary to cover the surface with a single coat... km² |
Volume Volume Volume is the quantity of three-dimensional space enclosed by some closed boundary, for example, the space that a substance or shape occupies or contains.... km³ |
Elevation Elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface .... m |
Coordinates Geographic coordinate system A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system that enables every location on the Earth to be specified by a set of numbers. The coordinates are often chosen such that one of the numbers represent vertical position, and two or three of the numbers represent horizontal position... |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vatnajökull Vatnajökull Vatnajökull is the largest glacier in Iceland. It is located in the south-east of the island, covering more than 8% of the country.-Size:With an area of 8,100 km², Vatnajökull is the largest ice cap in Europe by volume and the second largest in area Vatnajökull is the largest glacier in... |
8,300 | 3,100 | 2,109.6 | 64°24′N 16°48′W |
| 2 | Langjökull Langjökull Langjökull is the second largest ice cap in Iceland , after Vatnajökull. It is situated in the west of the Icelandic interior or Highlands of Iceland and can be seen clearly from Haukadalur.... |
953 | 195 | 1,360 | 64°45′N 19°59′W |
| 3 | Hofsjökull Hofsjökull Hofsjökull is the third largest glacier in Iceland after Vatnajökull and Langjökull and the largest active volcano in the country. It situates at the west of the Highlands of Iceland and north of the mountain range Kerlingarfjöll, between the two largest glaciers of Iceland. It covers an area of... |
925 | 208 | 1,765 | 64°49′N 18°49′W |
| 4 | Mýrdalsjökull Mýrdalsjökull Mýrdalsjökull mire dale glacier" or " mire valley glacier") is a glacier in the south of Iceland. It is situated to the north of Vík í Mýrdal and to the east of the smaller glacier Eyjafjallajökull. Between these two glaciers is Fimmvörðuháls pass. Its peak reaches in height and in 1980 it covered... |
596 | 140 | 1,493 | 63°40′N 19°06′W |
| 5 | Drangajökull Drangajökull Drangajökull is the northernmost glacier of Iceland. It is situated south-west of the peninsula Hornstrandir in the Vestfirðir region. The glacier covers an area of at an altitude of . It is the only Icelandic glacier entirely under 1 km height and also the only one that has not shrunk in recent... |
160 | 925 | 66°09′N 22°15′W | |
| 6 | Eyjafjallajökull Eyjafjallajökull Eyjafjallajökull is one of the smaller ice caps of Iceland, situated to the north of Skógar and to the west of Mýrdalsjökull. The ice cap covers the caldera of a volcano with a summit elevation of . The volcano has erupted relatively frequently since the last glacial period, most recently in... |
78 | 1,666 | 63°38′N 19°36′W | |
| 7 | Tungnafellsjökull Tungnafellsjökull Tungnafellsjökull is a glacier and volcano in Iceland. It has an elevation of and is located northwest of Vatnajökull glacier.-References:*... |
48 | 1,535 | 64°45′N 17°55′W | |
| 8 | Þórisjökull Þórisjökull Þórisjökull or Thórisjökull is a small glacier and volcano in western-central Iceland, to the southwest of Langjökull glacier. It has an elevation of . Kaldidalur lies in the foreground.-Position:... |
32 | 1,350 | 64°32′31"N 20°42′56"W | |
| 9 | Eiríksjökull Eiríksjökull Eiríksjökull is a glacier north-west of Langjökull in Iceland, with an area of reaching a height of , making it the largest table mountain in Iceland. Rising over above its surrounding, the lowest of a hyaloclastite tuya formed presumably by a single subglacial volcanic activity is capped by a... |
22 | 1,672 | 64°46′24"N 20°24′34"W | |
| 10 | Þrándarjökull Þrándarjökull Þrándarjökull is a small glacier in eastern Iceland. It has an elevation of and is located from Vatnajökull glacier.... |
22 | 1,236 | 64°42′08"N 14°54′09"W | |
| 11 | Tindfjallajökull Tindfjallajökull Tindfjallajökull is a stratovolcano in the south of Iceland. It has erupted rocks of basaltic to rhyolitic composition, and a 5-km-wide caldera was formed during the eruption of the 54,000 year old Thórsmörk Ignimbrite.... |
19 | 1,462 | 63°48′N 19°35′W | |
| 12 | Torfajökull Torfajökull Torfajökull is a rhyolitic stratovolcano and complex of subglacial volcanoes, located north of Mýrdalsjökull and south of Þórisvatn Lake, Iceland... |
15 | 1,190 | 63°53′39"N 19°07′37"W | |
| 13 | Snæfellsjökull Snæfellsjökull Snæfellsjökull is a 700,000 year old stratovolcano with a glacier covering its summit in western Iceland. The name of the mountain is actually Snæfell, but it is normally called "Snæfellsjökull" to distinguish it from two other mountains with this name... |
11 | 1,446 | 64°48′32"N 23°46′16"W | |
| 1-13 | largest glaciers | 11,181 | 2,109.6 |
These 13 largest glaciers have an aggregate area of 11,181 km² (compare to about 11,400 km² for all glaciers of Iceland).