Vatnajökull ( Icelandic pronunciation: , literally "Glacier of Lakes"; sometimes translated as Vatna Glacier in English) is the largest and most voluminous

ice cap In glaciology, an ice cap is a mass of ice that covers less than of land area (usually covering a highland area). Larger ice masses covering more than are termed ice sheets. Description Ice caps are not constrained by topographical feat ...

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

, and the second largest in area in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

after the Severny Island ice cap of Novaya Zemlya. It is in the south-east of the island, covering approximately 8% of the country.

Size

With an area of 7,900 km², Vatnajökull is the second largest

in Europe by volume (about 3,000 km³) and area (after the still larger Severny Island ice cap of Novaya Zemlya, Russia, which is in the extreme northeast of Europe). On 7 June 2008, it became a part of the Vatnajökull National Park. The average thickness of the ice is , with a maximum thickness of .

's highest peak, Hvannadalshnúkur (), as part of the Öræfajökull, is in the southern periphery of Vatnajökull, near Skaftafell. Vatnajökull Glacier

Volcanoes

Under the ice cap, as under many of the

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such a ...

s of Iceland, there are several volcanoes. Eruptions from these volcanoes have led to the development of large pockets of water beneath the ice, which may burst the weakened ice and cause a jökulhlaup ( glacial lake outburst flood). During the last ice age, numerous volcanic eruptions occurred under Vatnajökull, creating many

subglacial eruption Subglacial eruptions, those of ice-covered volcanoes, result in the interaction of magma with ice and snow, leading to meltwater formation, jökulhlaups, and lahars. Flooding associated with meltwater is a significant hazard in some volcan ...

s. In more modern times, the volcanoes continue to erupt beneath the glaciers, resulting in many documented floods. One jökulhlaup in 1934 caused the release of of water over the course of several days. The volcanic lake

Grímsvötn Grímsvötn (; ''vötn'' = "waters", singular: ) is a volcano with a (partially subglacial) fissure system located in Vatnajökull National Park, Iceland. The volcano itself is completely subglacial and located under the northwestern side of the ...

was the source of a large jökulhlaup in 1996. There was also a considerable but short-lived eruption of the volcano under these lakes at the beginning of November 2004. On 21 May 2011 a volcanic eruption started in Grímsvötn in Vatnajökull National Park at around 19:00. The plume reached up to .

In culture

An Icelandic older name for Vatnajökull was Klofajökull , which is known from eighteenth-century sources such as the writings of

Eggert Ólafsson Eggert Ólafsson (1 December 1726 – 30 May 1768) was an Icelandic explorer, writer and conservator of the Icelandic language. He also worked to revive the Icelandic culture and economy. Background He was the son of a farmer from Svefneyjar in ...

and Bjarni Pálsson. In September 1950, a

Douglas DC-4 The Douglas DC-4 is an American four-engined (piston), propeller-driven airliner developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. Military versions of the plane, the C-54 and R5D, served during World War II, in the Berlin Airlift and into the 1960 ...

operated by the private airline Loftleiðir crash-landed on the Vatnajökull glacier. The entire six-person crew survived. A rescue operation was launched after the crew managed to send a distress signal on the fourth day. The crew and the rescue team walked the 34 km to safety. The glacier was used as the setting for the opening sequence (set in

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part ...

) of the 1985

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors hav ...

film '' A View to a Kill'', in which Bond (played for the last time by Roger Moore) eliminated a host of armed villains before escaping in a submarine to

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U ...

. Several other films, including another in the Bond franchise, have been filmed on or using

Jökulsárlón Jökulsárlón (; literally "glacial river lagoon") is a large glacial lake in southern part of Vatnajökull National Park, Iceland. Situated at the head of the Breiðamerkurjökull glacier, it developed into a lake after the glacier started reced ...

, the terminal lake of the Breiðamerkurjökull outlet from Vatnajökull. In 2004, Vatnajökull was one of several Icelandic settings visited on the first leg of '' The Amazing Race 6''. Westlife's official music video for their twenty-fifth single top 10 and #2 UK hit in 2009 " What About Now" is the last film of Vatnajökull Glacier before the subsequent volcanic eruption. In November 2011, the glacier was used as a shooting location for the second season of the HBO fantasy TV series ''

Game of Thrones ''Game of Thrones'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss for HBO. It is an adaptation of '' A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin, the fir ...

''.

Outlet glaciers

Vatnajökull has around 30 outlet glaciers flowing from the ice cap. The Icelandic term for glacier is "jökull", and so is the term for outlet glacier. Given below is a list of outlet glaciers flowing from Vatnajökull, sorted by the four administrative territories of Vatnajökull National Park. This is not a complete list. Southern territory *

Breiðamerkurjökull Breiðamerkurjökull () is an outlet glacier of the larger glacier of Vatnajökull and a piedmont glacier in the southern part of Vatnajökull National Park, Iceland. Emerging as a tongue of the Vatnajökull, it ends in a small lagoon, known as J ...

* Brókarjökull * Falljökull * Fjallsjökull * Fláajökull * Heinabergsjökull * Hoffellsjökull * Hólárjökull * Hrútárjökull * Kvíárjökull * Lambatungnajökull * Morsárjökull * Skaftafellsjökull * Skálafellsjökull * Skeiðarárjökull * Stigárjökull * Svínafellsjökull * Viðborðsjökull * Virkisjökull Eastern territory * Brúarjökull * Eyjabakkajökull * Kverkjökull Northern territory * Dyngjujökull Western territory * Köldukvíslarjökull * Síðujökull * Skaftárjökull * Sylgjujökull * Tungnaárjökul

References

External links