Vatnajökull is the largest glacier in Iceland and one of the great ice masses of Europe. The ice cap covers about 7,700 square kilometres, roughly 8% of the country, and hides active volcanoes beneath ice that is up to 950 metres thick. Around it lies Vatnajökull National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site of glacier tongues, iceberg lagoons, canyons and lava fields.
Vatnajökull in numbers
By area, Vatnajökull is the second-largest ice cap in Europe after the one on Severny Island in Novaya Zemlya. It holds about 3,000 cubic kilometres of ice, with an average thickness of 380 metres. Around 30 outlet glaciers spill from its edges, among them Skaftafellsjökull, Svínafellsjökull and Breiðamerkurjökull.
The southern rim carries Öræfajökull, an ice-covered volcano whose summit, Hvannadalshnúkur, is Iceland's highest peak at 2,110 metres. Nearby, the Hrútsfjallstindar peaks rise to between 1,756 and 1,875 metres.
Volcanoes and floods beneath the glacier
Vatnajökull sits on top of one of the most active volcanic zones in Iceland. Grímsvötn, under the middle of the ice cap, erupted in 1996, in November 2004 and again on 21 May 2011, when its ash plume rose to about 17 kilometres.
When volcanic heat melts the ice from below, water collects in hidden pockets until it bursts out as a jökulhlaup, a glacial outburst flood. The flood of 1934 released about 15 cubic kilometres of water over several days, and the 1996 eruption under the ice set off another large flood from Grímsvötn.
The glacier has its own human dramas too. In September 1950 a Loftleiðir DC-4 crash-landed on the ice; all six crew survived and walked 34 kilometres to safety after a rescue operation.
Vatnajökull National Park: Skaftafell, Jökulsárlón and beyond
Vatnajökull National Park was founded on 7 June 2008 by joining the older Skaftafell and Jökulsárgljúfur parks with the ice cap. After later enlargements it covers about 14,967 square kilometres, around 14% of Iceland, which makes it the second-largest national park in Europe. UNESCO inscribed it on 5 July 2019 as "Vatnajökull National Park – dynamic nature of fire and ice".
- Skaftafell: a green oasis below the ice in the south, with a year-round visitor centre, a campsite, the basalt-framed Svartifoss waterfall and the easy S1 Glacier trail, a 4.1 km loop of about 1 to 1.5 hours.
- Jökulsárlón and Fjallsárlón: lagoons where icebergs calve from the glacier. Jökulsárlón is the terminal lake of Breiðamerkurjökull and has appeared in films including A View to a Kill.
- Jökulsárgljúfur and Dettifoss: in the north, a canyon cut by glacial floods, with the powerful Dettifoss at its head and the horseshoe cliffs of Ásbyrgi further down.
- Askja and Lakagígar: a highland caldera and a famous crater row, both part of the park.
The ice cap also draws film crews: Game of Thrones filmed season 2 scenes here in November 2011, and Interstellar used it as a backdrop. Check the official park website for opening hours, regional fees at Skaftafell and Jökulsárlón, and parking changes.
Visiting the ice caves of Vatnajökull
The blue ice caves are formed by meltwater running through the glacier in summer. Each winter the caves are reborn, so the shapes change from year to year. Breiðamerkurjökull, about 355 km from Reykjavík, is the best-known area, and its natural caves are visited from roughly October to April.
Book an ice cave with a certified glacier guide: tours include helmets and crampons, and guides check each cave's condition before every visit. For a calmer day, the lagoons and the Skaftafell trails need no equipment at all.
To see how ice landscapes change over decades, look at Glacier National Park’s repeat photographs. For Icelandic winter in town, see Akureyri in snow.
Related reading
- Ten Iceland Experiences: Waterfalls, Glaciers, Hot Springs and City Life
- Erez Marom’s Iceland Landscapes: Ice, Water and Unusual Light
- Iceland Aurora Films: Northern Lights from Sixty Locations
- Blue Iceland: Andy Lee’s Infrared Landscape Photography
- Crystalapse in Iceland: A Landscape Film with a Personal Ending
- Stian Rekdal’s Iceland Time-Lapse: From a Road Journey to a Film
- Strokkur Geyser: From a Blue Dome to a Column of Spray
- Eyjafjallajökull in Time-Lapse: Sean Stiegemeier’s May 2010 Film
- Iceland’s Blue Lagoon: Geothermal Water and the Landscape Around It
Sources
- Wikipedia: Vatnajökull
- Wikipedia: Vatnajökull National Park
- Vatnajökull National Park (official site)
- Arctic Adventures: Breiðamerkurjökull ice cave
- Photographs: Vilhelm Gunnarsson, Marijn Troch, Brynjar Ágústsson, Christian Seidenberg, Clive Maidment, Extreme Iceland, Jon Gustafsson, Henry Lee
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