The glaciers and ice caps of

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 ...

cover 11% 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. Glaciers are also contributing to the Icelandic economy, with tourists flocking to the country to see glaciers on snowmobiles and on glacier hiking tours. However, the recent loss of ice due to

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

is an increasing concern in Icelandic society.

Description

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 ...

is a mass of glacial ice that covers less than 50,000 km² of land area covering a highland area and they feed

outlet glacier Glacier morphology, or the form a glacier takes, is influenced by temperature, precipitation, topography, and other factors. The goal of glacial morphology is to gain a better understanding of glaciated landscapes and the way they are shaped. Ty ...

s. Many Icelandic ice caps and

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 lie above

volcanoes A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates a ...

, such as

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 ...

and

Bárðarbunga Bárðarbunga (), is a stratovolcano located under Vatnajökull in Vatnajökull National Park which is Iceland's most extensive glacier. The second highest mountain in Iceland, above sea level, Bárðarbunga is also part of a volcanic system th ...

, which lie under the largest ice cap,

Vatnajökull Vatnajökull ( Icelandic pronunciation: , literally "Glacier of Lakes"; sometimes translated as Vatna Glacier in English) is the largest and most voluminous ice cap in Iceland, and the second largest in area in Europe after the Severny Island i ...

. The

caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcano eruption. When large volumes of magma are erupted over a short time, structural support for the rock above the magma chamber is ...

of Grímsvötn is 100 km² in area, and Bárðarbunga is 60 km². When

volcanic activity Volcanism, vulcanism or volcanicity is the phenomenon of eruption of molten rock (magma) onto the surface of the Earth or a solid-surface planet or moon, where lava, pyroclastics, and volcanic gases erupt through a break in the surface called a ...

occurs under the glacier, the resulting meltwater can lead to a sudden

glacial lake outburst flood A glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) is a type of outburst flood caused by the failure of a dam containing a glacial lake. An event similar to a GLOF, where a body of water contained by a glacier melts or overflows the glacier, is called a j� ...

, known in Icelandic as

jökulhlaup A jökulhlaup ( ) (literally "glacial run") is a type of glacial outburst flood. It is an Icelandic term that has been adopted in glaciological terminology in many languages. It originally referred to the well-known subglacial outburst flood ...

, 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 glaciers are relevant enough in Icelandic geography that the four largest are represented blank in most of the maps of the

administrative divisions of Iceland This article shows the administrative divisions of Iceland. Contemporary Constituencies Until 2003, the constituencies for the parliament elections were the same as the regions, but by an amendment to the constitution they were changed to the ...

smaller than the regions. Iceland is losing ice due to

Okjökull Okjökull (, Ok glacier) was a glacier in western Iceland on top of the shield volcano Ok. Ok is located northeast of Reykjavík. The glacier was declared dead in 2014 by glaciologist Oddur Sigurðsson. In 2018, anthropologists Cymene Howe and ...

in Borgarfjörður, West Iceland, has lost its glacier title and is now simply known as Ok, losing the Icelandic word for ''glacier'', ''

jökull Jökull is the name of: * Jökull Andrésson, Icelandic footballer * Jökull Júlíusson, Icelandic singer * Jökull (journal), Icelandic academic journal {{disambig ...

'', as a suffix. In order to fit the criteria glaciers need to be thick enough to sink and move under their own weight, which Okjökull is not. Okjökull is the first Icelandic glacier to lose its title.

Largest glaciers by surface area

These 13 largest glaciers have an aggregate area of 11,181 km² (out of about 11,400 km² for all glaciers of Iceland).

References

External links

National Land Survey of Iceland : Icelandic Statistics (Original source of area figures)

Elevations of some glaciers

Geographic Names of Iceland's Glaciers: Historic and Modern
{{Authority control *

Glaciers 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 as ...

Description

Largest glaciers by surface area

See also

References

External links