Vatnajökull Glacier, Icelandi

Regional Level Types
Vatnajökull Glacier	Glacier
Iceland	Country

Vatnajökull (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈvahtnaˌjœːkʏtl̥], literally "Glacier of Lakes"; sometimes translated as Vatna Glacier in English) is the largest and most voluminous ice cap in Iceland, and the second largest in area in Europe after the Severny Island ice cap of Novaya Zemlya. It is in the south-east of the island, covering approximately 10% of the country.

With an area of 7,900 km², Vatnajökull is the second-largest ice cap in Europe by volume (about 3,000 km3) and area (after the still larger Severny Island ice cap of Novaya Zemlya, 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 380 m (ca. 1,247 ft), with a maximum thickness of 950 m (ca. 3,117 ft). Iceland's highest peak, Hvannadalshnúkur (2,109.6 m or 6,921 ft), as part of the Öræfajökull, is in the southern periphery of Vatnajökull, near Skaftafell.

Under the ice cap, as under many of the glaciers of Iceland, there are several volcanoes. 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). 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 15 km3 (3.5 cu mi) of water over the course of several days. The volcanic lake Grímsvötn 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 17 km (ca. 55,774 ft).

Fossils

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Other Databases

Wikipedia:	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatnaj%C3%B6kull
Wikidata ID:	Q179734
GeoNames ID:	2625477

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