After the lovely Jokulsarlon Lagoon, we drove to the Skaftafell National Park. We were greeted by a charming guide whose name we couldn’t pronounce, so we decided to call him “Will”. Will showed us a very accurate model of the Park, showing features such as braided channels on the glacial outwash plain. He pointed out that the tallest mountain in Iceland was actually a volcano and the icecap was a remarkable million years old.
Next, we took a short(ish) walk down to the Glacier, stopping several times to show us the erosion on the mountain. When we arrived near to the glacier, he gave us a picture of the same spot, taken in 1994, it was amazing how much of the glacier had retreated in the past 16 years. Despite how much it had shrunk, the sheer vastness of the ice was mind-blowing; reaching hundreds of metres wide.
There are many of these great glacial valleys across Iceland, as the country is in fact 11 per cent ice. In front of the glacier were lagoons, formed by melted ice.
Callum and Lucy (Year 9)
Next, we took a short(ish) walk down to the Glacier, stopping several times to show us the erosion on the mountain. When we arrived near to the glacier, he gave us a picture of the same spot, taken in 1994, it was amazing how much of the glacier had retreated in the past 16 years. Despite how much it had shrunk, the sheer vastness of the ice was mind-blowing; reaching hundreds of metres wide.
There are many of these great glacial valleys across Iceland, as the country is in fact 11 per cent ice. In front of the glacier were lagoons, formed by melted ice.
Callum and Lucy (Year 9)
[Editorial Note: the bottom right photo contains our group, still some hundred metres from the glacial snout (where the bottom left photo was taken), for scale; they are along the "line" between the gravel and the ice]
