The Glerá (, "glass river") is a river in northern

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

. It originates from

glacier A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

s in the mountains of the

Tröllaskagi Tröllaskagi () is a peninsula in northern Iceland on the Greenland Sea, between the fjords of Eyjafjörður and Skagafjörður. The peninsula is mountainous, with several peaks reaching over 1,000 meters above sea level, the tallest being Kerlin ...

peninsula and also draws from some freshwater springs on its way down Glerá Valley. It runs through the town of

Akureyri Akureyri (, ) is a town in northern Iceland, the country's fifth most populous Municipalities of Iceland, municipality (under the official name of Akureyrarbær , 'town of Akureyri') and the largest outside the Capital Region (Iceland), Capital R ...

before it flows into the sea in

Eyjafjörður Eyjafjörður (, ''Island Fjord'') is one of the longest fjords in Iceland. It is located in the central north of the country. Situated by the fjord is the country's fourth most populous municipality, Akureyri. Physical geography The fjord is ...

. The river formed the sandbank of Oddeyri where it enters the sea. It was important in the dawn of the

industrial age The Industrial Age is a period of history that encompasses the changes in economic and social organization that began around 1760 in Great Britain and later in other countries, characterized chiefly by the replacement of hand tools with power-d ...

in Akureyri when it was

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aqua ...

med and used to produce

electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...

from 17 September 1922. The original power station has been demolished now but the dam remains. A new power station has been built to commemorate 100 years of hydroelectric power in Iceland. This 290 kW (rated capacity) power station was opened on August 27, 2005. The river used to separate Akureyri proper from Glerá Village which was the settlement north of the Glerá but it merged with the township of Akureyri in the early 20th century. Today the part of Akureyri that is north of the Glerá is called '' Glerárhverfi'' (Glerá Borough) or '' Þorpið'' (The Village) and more than 7000 of the town's 17000 residents live there.

References

Rivers of Iceland Akureyri {{Iceland-river-stub