icerock
Langjökull
Approximately 11% of the total area of the country are covered with glaciers. The largest ones are to be found in the south and in the central highlands. The main reason for their location is the much greater precipitation in the South than in the North. At the time, when the country was being settled, the glaciers were small, but they grew fast, when it started getting colder during the latter part of the Middle Ages and up the turn of the 19th century. Then they started retreating until about 1988 and have remained stationary since then. Travelling across the glaciers was rare in earlier times, but nowadays hardly a day passes without someone being up there. Such trips should not be undertaken unaccompanied by the inexperienced unless accompanied by professionals.
Now the yearly average temperature in Iceland is 5°C, so there would not have to be a great drop for the glaciers to start growing and advancing again. The Icelandic glaciers are the so-called thaw-glaciers with temperatures around 0°C. Another characteristics of Icelandic glaciers is the great number of constantly moving glacier tongues. Sometimes they advance fast and then retreat gradually again until the balance between the advance and the melting has been reached. The glaciers are an important source of water for the electrical production in the country. Therefore they have been and are still being researched and monitored thoroughly.
Langjökull
Approximately 11% of the total area of the country are covered with glaciers. The largest ones are to be found in the south and in the central highlands. The main reason for their location is the much greater precipitation in the South than in the North. At the time, when the country was being settled, the glaciers were small, but they grew fast, when it started getting colder during the latter part of the Middle Ages and up the turn of the 19th century. Then they started retreating until about 1988 and have remained stationary since then. Travelling across the glaciers was rare in earlier times, but nowadays hardly a day passes without someone being up there. Such trips should not be undertaken unaccompanied by the inexperienced unless accompanied by professionals.
Now the yearly average temperature in Iceland is 5°C, so there would not have to be a great drop for the glaciers to start growing and advancing again. The Icelandic glaciers are the so-called thaw-glaciers with temperatures around 0°C. Another characteristics of Icelandic glaciers is the great number of constantly moving glacier tongues. Sometimes they advance fast and then retreat gradually again until the balance between the advance and the melting has been reached. The glaciers are an important source of water for the electrical production in the country. Therefore they have been and are still being researched and monitored thoroughly.