We’re cruising around Iceland in counter-clockwise fashion in our Mercedes 4x4. Dui, our guide and driver, tells us that today we are headed for a few of the glacier tongues of Vatnajokull, the largest in the country and possibly in all of Europe. Vatnajokull is so enormous that it has tongues large enough to have specific names. As we pull into the parking lot, that of Falljokall comes into view.
Vatnajokull is immensely popular because of its enormous size. It has become a national park, a magnet for tour groups and hikers. Fortunately, we are here in September after school has started and early enough to beat the crowds. We get out of the 4x4, unload our camera equipment, disburse, and head towards the glacier tongue.
As I lug my gear, my mind starts wandering. What exactly is a glacier? How do they form, and what makes them flow? What is global warming doing to the world’s glaciers?
It turns out that because of Iceland’s geographic location, the sea current causes climate characteristics that, over millennia, have created world-class glacier formations, including Vatnajokull.
Glaciers are masses of ice that flow slowly down mountains and valleys with extensive erosive capabilities. As they move, mountains are sculpted into jagged ridges, peaks and deep U-shaped valleys. These vast ice sheets are immensely thick, sometimes depressing the surface of the land below sea level in many locations.
Glacier formation requires more snow to accumulate in winter relative to the amount of meltwater in summer. As layers of snow are laid down, the snowflakes below come under tremendous pressure, expelling most of the air trapped between the grains. As a result, glacial ice forms. This process can take up to hundreds of years depending on the amount of snowfall.
Glaciers begin to flow when the ice along the base begins to melt. This occurs because the temperature at the base of the ice sheet increases due to the pressure of the overlying glacial ice. The temperature of the earth contributes to basal melting, the result of which is a lubricant that allows the glacier to slide over bedrock.
The scary thing about looking at and photographing these incredible natural structures is pondering the speed with which they are melting. Because of global warming, things that under normal circumstances happen in geologic time are now occurring over a human lifetime. This is the result of the burning of fossil fuels and the accretion of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
Well, it’s time to pack it in and head to our next photo-op. The world’s problems, including climate change, are not going to be solved today, or unfortunately, anytime soon. By photographing the glaciers of Iceland, I at least have a record of what they looked like in 2019 for my grandson to see someday.