In 2017 I finally made it to the Arctic! Iceland is a spot on this rock that resonated with me. The ‘Land of Fire and Ice’ is a name that truly warrants reverence. I was reminded of so many things I had learned in my earlier days…like glaciers…and seeing one was amazing.
I visited Jökulsárlón, a body of water at the southern base of the Breiðamerkurjökull outlet glacier of the Vatnajökull Ice Sheet.The glacier is breathtaking! Seeing the lagoon and listening to the sounds as icebergs passed by into the open Atlantic Ocean was mesmerizing. It was also scary as I was just east of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge below.
There are some extremely interesting geological events occurring in Iceland, and I mean extreme!
The Breiðamerkurjökull outlet glacier has been retreating for some time. As the glacier tongue retreats the lake, or lagoon, increases. Landsat satellite imagery illustrates an approximate increase from 15km ² to 21 km² between 2000 and 2009 (Canas et al. 2015). A big concern of such processes is the impact it will have on the surrounding low-lying regions. You see, communities in low-lying areas who are downstream can be severely impacted by flooding from glacial lake outburst floods or GLOFs. The warming of the global climate is directly changing and reshaping Iceland, as well as other vulnerable locations.
For more information about Risk and Vulnerability check out my next blog…until then please enjoy some additional photos of beautiful and extreme Iceland!!!
References:
Daniel Canas, Winnie May Chan, Austen Chiu, Logan Jung-Ritchie, Matthew Leung, Logesh Pillay, and Brenda Waltham. Potential Environmental Effects of Expanding Lake Jökulsárlón in Response to Melting of Breiðamerkurjökull. Iceland School of Geography and Earth Sciences / McMaster University / Hamilton / ON / Canada. 2015
By Oddur Sigurðsson and Richard S. Williams, Jr. Geographic Names of Iceland’s Glaciers: Historic and Modern.
Climate Culture(d) Conversation 