Vatnajökull, Iceland

Vatnajökull (pronounced vat'najö'küdll) is the largest glacier in Iceland. It is situated in the south-east of the island, covering more than 8% of the country. With its size of 8,100 km² it is the largest glacier in Europe in volume and the second largest (after Austfonna on Nordaustlandet, Svalbard) in area. The average thickness of the ice is 400 m, with a maximum thickness of 1000 m. Austrias longest glacier, the Pasterze, winds its 8 km (5 mile) route at the foot of Austrias highest mountain, the Grossglockner. ... World map showing location of Europe A satellite composite image of Europe Europe is geologically and geographically a peninsula, forming the westernmost part of Eurasia. ... Nordaustlandet (sometimes translated as North East Land) is the second largest island of Svalbard, with an area of 14,600 km². As its name suggests, it lies north east of Spitzbergen. ...

Iceland's highest mountain, Hvannadalshnjúkur (2,119 m), is to be found in the southern periphery of Vatnajökull, near Skaftafell National Park. Mountains in the national park Skaftafell National Park is situated between Kirkjubæjarklaustur and Höfn in the south of Iceland. ...

Under the glacier, as under many of the glaciers of Iceland, there are some volcanoes. The volcanic lakes, Grimsvötn for example, were the sources of a large glacier run in 1996. The volcano under these lakes also caused a considerable but short-time eruption in the beginning of November, 2004. A volcano is a geological landform (usually a mountain) where magma (rock of the earths interior made molten or liquid by high pressure and temperature) erupts through the surface of the planet. ... A so-called glacier run (literal translation of Icelandic jökulhlaup) is due to the eruption of a volcano under a glacier. ... 1996 is a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ...

The Vatnajökull has been shrinking for some years now, possibly because of climatic changes and recent volcanic activity.

See also

• Geography of Iceland
• Volcanoes of Iceland

A true colour image of Iceland captured by NASAs Aqua satellite on January 28, 2004. ... Iceland has a very high number of active volcanoes due to its unique geological conditions. ...

External links

• Photos of Vatnajökull from www.islandsmyndir.is (http://www.islandsmyndir.is/html_skjol/halendid/vatnajokull/vatnajokull_yfirlit08.htm)
• search engine and map of Iceland (http://gis.bofh.is/ornefnaskra/)