You are browsing the archive for Iceland Glacier retreat Archives - From a Glacier's Perspective.
October 23, 2020
Tungnafellsjökull, Iceland Recession and Thinning 1999-2020
Tungnafellsjökull Ice Cap in 1999 and 2020 Landsat images indicating terminus changes at three northern outlets, red arrows, and at four locations of bedrock exposure. Tungnafellsjökull Ice Cap is a ~32km2 ice cap located between Vatnajökull and Hofsjökull. Gunnlaugsson (2016) reported on the mass balance changes of the Tungnafellsjökull Ice Cap and found it had lost 20 of its volume and 16% of its area from 1960-2013. The ice cap …
November 14, 2016
Hagafellsjokull, Iceland Reflects Langjokull Thinning & Retreat
Landsat comparison of the terminus of Hagafellsjökull from 2000 and 2016. The red arrows are the 2000 terminus, the yellow arrows the 2016 terminus. Purple arrows indicate upglacier thinning. Langjökull is the second largest iceap in Icalnd with an area of over 900 square kilometers. The mass balance of the icecap has been reported since 1997 and his lost over 1 m per year during this period (WGMS, 2016). Pope …
October 26, 2015
Blágnípujökull, Iceland Retreat 1986-2015
Blágnípujökull comparison in Landsat imagery from 1986 and 2014. Blágnípujökull is an outlet glacier on the western side of Hofsjökull. The Iceland Glaciological Society spearheads an annual terminus monitoring program led by Oddur Sigurðsson. This data set enabled an examination of glacier response to climate change in Iceland from 1930-1995 by Tómas Jóhannesson, Icelandic Meteorological Office and Sigurðsson (1998). This illustrated that Hofsjökull glaciers retreated little from 1950 to 1990, but …
February 13, 2015
Eiriksjökull Retreat, Iceland
Eiriksjökull is an ice cap just west of Langjökull In central Iceland. Here we examine its main western outlet the Braekur using Landsat imagery from 1989 to 2014. The Icelandic Glaciological Society website on terminus variations is the source of the map for the glacier. The IGS program monitors 50 glaciers, all of them are currently retreating. Eiriksjökull , is not one that is in this monitoring program. In 1989 the Braekur …
October 8, 2013
Eyjabakkajökull Retreat, Iceland
Eyjabakkajökull is a surging glacier that emanates from the north side of Vatnajokkull Ice Cap. The glacier surged in 1890, 1931, 1938 and 1972. During the latter advance the glacier advanced approxmately 2 km (Ívar Örn Benediktsson, 2009). A recent project focused on this glacial geology in front of this glacier led by Ólafur Ingólfsson and Ívar Örn Benediktsson (University of Iceland) and Dr. Frank Lisker (University of Bremen). The …
September 16, 2013
Brúarjökull Retreat, Iceland
Brúarjökull is a major, 1600 square kilometers outlet glacier on the northeast side of the Vatnjokull Ice Cap in Iceland. Brúarjökull is a surging glacier that has surged n 1810, 1984 and 1964. During a surge a glaciers basal water pressure increases leading to reduced basal friction, a sharp velocity increase and terminus advance. Surges do not typically reflect climate change. In recent years Brúarjökull has been retreating at about …
November 11, 2012
Porisjokull Retreat, Iceland
Porisjokull (Thorisjokull) is a small 25 square kilometer ice cap southwest of Langjokull. The top elevation of the icecap is just 1350 m. This ice caps outlet glaciers have been in retreat as have almost all Iceland glaciers in the last decade (Helgi Björnsson and Finnur Pálsson, 2008). Examination of Landsat images from 2000, 2002, 2011 and 2012, shown in that order below, are used to identify changes in Porisjokull. …
April 1, 2012
Norðurjökull outlet of Langjökull Retreat Iceland
Langjökull is the second largest icecap in Iceland with an area of 920 square kilometers (Jóhannesson (2009). One of the main outlet glaciers of Langjökull is the Norðurjökull which still reaches Hvítárvatn. Hvítárvatn is a large lake that recieves 70% of its inflow from Langjökull (Flowers et al, 2007). The lake has a maximum depth of 84 m and a surface area of 30 square kilometers. Glaciers in Iceland have …
January 27, 2011
Tungnaarjökull Retreat, Iceland
Tungnaarjökull drains the west side of the Vatnojökull Icecap. The glacier begins just west of the Grimsvotn Volcano at 1500 m. Just to the north of this large outlet glacier, 350 square kilometers, is the Loki Volcano. The first image below denotes these volcanoes and the epicenter of recent earthquakes. The volcanic activity is recorded in the dark ash layers that fall on the glacier in the accumulation area and …
March 25, 2010
Gígjökull Retreat and Eruption Impact on this Glacier-Updated 2/2011
Gígjökull drains north from the Eyjafjallajökull Ice cap. Eyjafjallajokull began to erupt on March 20. In the initial eruption the fountains of lava were vented from a fissure in a relatively ice free area, east of the ice cap, and did not generate much flooding from ice melt. The vent indicated by NASA from early April has shifted closer to the main ice cap, but is still peripheral to it. …
Dean of Academic Affairs at Nichols College and Professor of Environmental Science at Nichols College in Massachusetts since 1989. Glaciologist directing the North Cascade Glacier Climate Project since 1984. This project monitors the mass balance and behavior of more glaciers than any other in North America.