Skeiðará () is a relatively short

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 ...

river (about 30 km long). It has its source on the glacier Skeiðarárjökull, one of the southern arms of the

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 ...

in the south 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 ...

. In spite of its short length, this river has a bad reputation. It is especially feared because of the frequent glacier runs that can be fatal. In front of Skaftafell and Skeiðarárjökull, Skeiðará has formed the Skeiðarársandur, a black plain of lava sand and ashes crossed by a lot of small rivulets which covers the whole area between the park and the sea (about 40 km long and 5 to 10 km wide). In 1996, the latest of these glacier runs took place. It destroyed parts of

Route 1 The following highways are numbered 1. For roads numbered A1, see list of A1 roads. For roads numbered B1, see list of B1 roads. For roads numbered M1, see List of M1 roads. For roads numbered N1, see list of N1 roads. For roads numbered ...

(the Ring Road). The bridge was damaged by floating ice boulders the size of houses. At the peak of this glacier run, 45,000 m³/s of water were coming down. No one was harmed, scientists having very carefully monitored the volcano Grímsvötn on

which caused the glacier run by its eruption.

References

Rivers of Iceland Southern Region (Iceland) {{Iceland-river-stub

See also

References