Vatnajökull ( Icelandic pronunciation: , literally "Glacier of Lakes"; sometimes translated as Vatna Glacier in English) is the largest and most voluminous

ice cap In glaciology, an ice cap is a mass of ice that covers less than of land area (usually covering a highland area). Larger ice masses covering more than are termed ice sheets. Description By definition, ice caps are not constrained by topogra ...

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 ...

, and the second largest in area in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

after the Severny Island ice cap of

Novaya Zemlya Novaya Zemlya (, also , ; , ; ), also spelled , is an archipelago in northern Russia. It is situated in the Arctic Ocean, in the extreme northeast of Europe, with Cape Flissingsky, on the northern island, considered the extreme points of Europe ...

. It is in the south-east of the island, covering approximately 10% of the country.

Size

With an area of 7,700 km², Vatnajökull is the second largest

in Europe by volume (about 3,000 km³) and area (after the still larger Severny Island ice cap of

, Russia, which is in the extreme northeast of Europe). On 7 June 2008, it became a part of the Vatnajökull National Park. The average thickness of the ice is , with a maximum thickness of .

's highest peak, Hvannadalshnúkur (), as part of the Öræfajökull, is in the southern periphery of Vatnajökull, near

Skaftafell Skaftafell () is a preservation area in Öræfi, southeast Iceland. It was once a major farm, later being named a national park. Originally known as Skaftafell National Park, it was subsequently joined together with other nearby regions to form t ...

Peaks

Hrútsfjallstindar is a series of Icelandic peaks rising from Vatnajökull between Svínafellsjökull and Skaftafellsjökull, in its southern part. There are four peaks, which range from to high.

Volcanoes

Under the ice cap, as under many of the

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 of Iceland, there are several

volcanoes A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often fo ...

. Eruptions from these volcanoes have led to the development of large pockets of water beneath the ice, which may burst the weakened ice and cause a jökulhlaup (

glacial lake outburst flood A glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) is a type of outburst flood caused by the failure of a dam containing a glacial lake. An event similar to a GLOF, where a body of water contained by a glacier melts or overflows the glacier, is called a j� ...

). During the last ice age, numerous volcanic eruptions occurred under Vatnajökull, creating many subglacial eruptions. In more modern times, the volcanoes continue to erupt beneath the glaciers, resulting in many documented floods. One jökulhlaup in 1934 caused the release of of water over the course of several days. The volcanic lake

Grímsvötn Grímsvötn (; ''vötn'' = "waters", singular: ) is an active volcano with a (partially subglacial) fissure system located in Vatnajökull National Park, Iceland. The central volcano is completely subglacial and located under the northwestern side ...

was the source of a large jökulhlaup in 1996. There was also a considerable but short-lived eruption of the volcano under these lakes at the beginning of November 2004. On 21 May 2011 a volcanic eruption started in Grímsvötn in Vatnajökull National Park at around 19:00. The plume reached up to .

In culture

An Icelandic older name for Vatnajökull was Klofajökull (Cleft Glacier, due to cuts into the ice several of which can be presumed to be liable for the name), which is known from eighteenth-century sources such as the writings of Eggert Ólafsson and Bjarni Pálsson. In September 1950, a Douglas DC-4 operated by the private airline Loftleiðir crash-landed on the Vatnajökull glacier. The entire six-person crew survived. A rescue operation was launched after the crew managed to send a distress signal on the fourth day. The crew and the rescue team walked the 34 km to safety. The glacier was used as the setting for the opening sequence (set in

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

) of the 1985

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

film ''

A View to a Kill ''A View to a Kill'' is a 1985 spy film, the fourteenth in the ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions, and the seventh and final appearance of Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Although the title is adapted from ...

'', in which Bond (played for the last time by

Roger Moore Sir Roger George Moore (14 October 192723 May 2017) was an English actor. He was the actor to portray Ian Fleming's fictional secret agent James Bond (literary character), James Bond in the Eon Productions/MGM Studios film series, playing the ...

) eliminated a host of armed villains before escaping in a submarine to

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

. Several other films, including another in the Bond franchise, have been filmed on or using Jökulsárlón, the terminal lake of the Breiðamerkurjökull outlet from Vatnajökull. In 2004, Vatnajökull was one of several Icelandic settings visited on the first leg of '' The Amazing Race 6''. Westlife's official music video for their twenty-fifth single top 10 and #2 UK hit in 2009 " What About Now" is the last film of Vatnajökull Glacier before the subsequent volcanic eruption. In November 2011, the glacier was used as a shooting location for the second season of the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

fantasy TV series ''

Game of Thrones ''Game of Thrones'' is an American Fantasy television, fantasy Drama (film and television), drama television series created by David Benioff and for HBO. It is an adaptation of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of high fantasy novels by ...

''.

Outlet glaciers

Vatnajökull has around 30 outlet glaciers flowing from the ice cap. The Icelandic term for glacier is "jökull", and so is the term for outlet glacier. Given below is a list of outlet glaciers flowing from Vatnajökull, sorted by the four administrative territories of Vatnajökull National Park. This is not a complete list. Southern territory * Austurtungnajökull * Axarfellsjökull * Breiðamerkurjökull * Birnudalsjökull * Brókarjökull * Eyvindstungnajökull * Falljökull * Fellsárjökull * Fjallsjökull * Fláajökull * Gljúfursárjökull * Heinabergsjökull * Hoffellsjökull * Hólárjökull * Hrútárjökull * Kotárjökull * Kvíárjökull * Lambatungnajökull * Morsárjökull * Norðurtungnajökull * Rótarfjallsjökull * Skaftafellsjökull * Skálafellsjökull * Skeiðarárjökull * Stigárjökull * Stórhöfðajökull * Suðurfjallsjökull * Svínafellsjökull * Vesturdalsjökull * Viðborðsjökull * Virkisjökull Eastern territory * Brúarjökull * Eyjabakkajökull * Geldingafellsjökull * Kverkjökull * Kverkkvíslarjökull * Kvíslarjökull Northern territory * Dyngjujökull Western territory * Grænalónsjökull * Köldukvíslarjökull * Síðujökull * Skaftárjökull * Sylgjujökull * Tungnaárjökul

References

External links

News about Vatnajokull National park

Search engine and map of Iceland

Baldursson, S, J Guðnason, H Hannesdóttir & T Thórðarson. Nomination of Vatnajökull National Park for inclusion in the World Heritage List, Reykjavik 2018, Vatnajökull National Park
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vatnajokull Highlands of Iceland Ice caps Bodies of ice of Iceland East Volcanic Zone of Iceland Öræfajökull Belt Vatnajökull National Park