Glaciers of Iceland

The glaciers and ice caps of Iceland cover 11.1% of the land area of the country (about 11,400 km² out of the total area of 103,125 km²) and have a considerable impact on its landscape and meteorology. An ice cap is a mass of glacial ice that covers less than 50,000 km² of land area covering a highland area and they feed outlet glaciers.

Many Icelandic ice caps and glaciers lie above volcanoes, such as Grímsvötn and Bárðarbunga, which lie under the largest ice cap, Vatnajökull. The caldera of Grímsvötn is 100 km² in area, and Bárðarbungu is 60 km².

When volcanic activity occurs under the glacier, the resulting meltwater can lead to a sudden glacial lake outburst flood, known in Icelandic as jökulhlaup, but jökulhlaups are most often caused by accumulation of meltwater due to geothermal activity underneath the glacier. Such jökulhlaups have occasionally triggered volcanic eruptions through the sudden release of pressure.

The Icelandic word for glacier is jökull.

Largest glaciers by surface area

Vatnajökull

Langjökull

Hofsjökull

Mýrdalsjökull

Drangajökull

Eyjafjallajökull

Tungnafellsjökull

Þórisjökull

Eiríksjökull

Þrándarjökull

Tindfjallajökull

Torfajökull

Snæfellsjökull

Location of the 13 largest glaciers within Iceland

	Glacier or Ice Cap	Area km²	Volume km³	Elevation m	Coordinates
1	Vatnajökull	8,300	3,100	2,109.6	64°24′N 16°48′W
2	Langjökull	953	195	1,360	64°45′N 19°59′W
3	Hofsjökull	925	208	1,765	64°49′N 18°49′W
4	Mýrdalsjökull	596	140	1,493	63°40′N 19°06′W
5	Drangajökull	160		925	66°09′N 22°15′W
6	Eyjafjallajökull	78		1,666	63°38′N 19°36′W
7	Tungnafellsjökull	48		1,535	64°45′N 17°55′W
8	Þórisjökull	32		1,350	64°32′31″N 20°42′56″W
9	Eiríksjökull	22		1,672	64°46′24″N 20°24′34″W
10	Þrándarjökull	22		1,236	64°42′08″N 14°54′09″W
11	Tindfjallajökull	19		1,462	63°48′N 19°35′W
12	Torfajökull	15		1,190	63°53′39″N 19°07′37″W
13	Snæfellsjökull	11		1,446	64°48′32″N 23°46′16″W
1-13	largest glaciers	11,181		2,109.6

These 13 largest glaciers have an aggregate area of 11,181 km² (compare to about 11,400 km² for all glaciers of Iceland).

See also

• Geography of Iceland
• List of glaciers

External links

• National Land Survey of Iceland (Icelandic)
• Original source of area figures
• Elevations of some glaciers