The path leads from the parking area to the glacier. From the glacier margin, a visitor trail leads back to the parking lot. Numbered posts refer to text in a booklet which is an available in a box on the infor-mation board. Highlights: The icecap, glacier margin, dirt cones, dramatic wilderness and climate change. The trail is mostly sandy and dry, and easy to walk on even though there are some stony sections. Glaciers are constantly changing so the visitor trail is reviewed each summer, both the route and the features which are pointed out. Glaciers shape the land and create vast landscapes. Their shimmering masses reach skywards; they dig deep valleys and push up hills and ridges. Here, at the glacier margin, there are many small glacial features; some are not obvious, but they are impressive if you look carefully.

Vatnajökull is over 8000 km2 in area, almost 1000 m thick in places, and about 400 m thick on average. It was small when Iceland was first settled, began to grow in the 14th century, and was largest at the end of the 19th century. It shrank during the last century and is now shrinking rapidly.

Beneath Vatnajökull lie many volcanoes and a variety of rock types. The enormous weight of the ice grinds the bedrock into large and small fragments which are carried along as the ice flows to the glacier margin. Many rock types emerge from under the glacier: stones of all shapes and sizes, most with sharp edges. Here is móberg or hyaloclastite, made of cemented ash which was erupted under a glacier, and also dark stones of basalt and light ones of rhyolite. Some stones are red but have grey broken surfaces. Over a long time period, the outside of the stone has oxidised and the iron in the rock has “rusted”, turning it red.

Ice-free mountain peaks which protrude from the glacier are called nunataks. When glaciers shrink, existing nunataks become larger, and new ones appear. Colonization begins soon after the ice melts. Birds settle on the dark patches in the expanse of white; they may shake off seeds, spores, or insects. Organisms can also be blown onto the nunataks by wind, and there they try to root and establish themselves.

Icelandic glaciers are retreating because of the warming climate. The thinness of the ice margin here indicates that the glacier is shrinking. On a growing glacier the margin is thicker; it pushes into the surrounding alluvium, like a bulldozer. This has happened in the past, and around here are many small moraines which the ice margin has pushed up.

Strange black cones often occur on glaciers. These are dirt cones (ablation cones). They can occur as small heaps, or piles as tall as a person. Their core is glacial ice, covered by a sandy layer. For a long time no one understood how they formed, but now it is thought that sand collects in hollows on the glacier’s surface. If the sand is thick enough, it protects the glacier.

Earth’s climate is warming. The reason for this is pollution, released by humans into the atmosphere. Pollutants in the atmosphere prevent infrared light from escaping Earth, as glass does in a greenhouse. Many of the effects of global warming are unforeseeable, but one of them is that glaciers are shrinking everywhere. Here too. The glacier retreats constantly, new land emerges and the rivers carry away more water than before.

In and around the river, the stones are smoother than those further away. They lose their corners and edges when the river current rolls them about and they knock into each other. Boulders and pebbles become smaller and more spherical the longer they are rolled in the river. The finest grains become glacial silt which can also be seen here; it looks almost like wet cement.

Sometimes glacial rivers make tunnels or caves in the ice. Ice caves are dangerous; their roofs can collapse or large ice blocks can fall from them. They can be enjoyed from a safe distance, looking in at the clear, shining ice which often contains black lines of ash layers. In the stillness, the symphony of the glacier can be heard as water drips from the cave roof, and stones slide and fall from the ice

The glacier melts and water flows under and away from it. Here a stream emerges briefly, disappears under the glacier again, then re-emerges and continues to the lowland. The river is muddy, carrying material that feeds the rich biota at Eyjabakki (a bird paradise below Eyjabakkajökull).Glacial rivers that flow directly to the sea carry nutrients far from the coast, and the areas around their mouths are often important breeding grounds for fish. This does not apply to the river here. It flows through Ufsarlón and Lagarfljót lakes before reaching the sea, and a lot of the silt settles out on the way.

Glaciers are ever-changing: advancing or retreating. The 2013 sign shows where the glacier margin was on August 1, 2013. Each year, on that day, a new spike is added so that the glacier’s movements can be followed between years.

Icelanders have long felt threatened by, even afraid of, places like this. The land was of little use so few people came here. It is still a grey and white wilderness; cold winds blow from the glacier and barely a blade of grass can be seen. But now people want to come to places like this. Why? What are they searching for? What is your impression?

No vegetation is to be seen closest to the glacier margin. A short distance from the glacier it may be possible to see a few species of plants and small patches of green moss. The moss is often a colonizing plant on moraine or lava; it can grow where there is no soil because it has no real roots. Other plants are specially adapted with long roots to anchor themselves in loose sand, for example thrift. What plants can be seen here?

Travelling away from here, it is worth noticing that as the distance from the glacier increases, so do the number and size of the green patches. Aerial photographs have been taken of this area since 1945, showing the size of the glacier. Here, between the two outlet glaciers, the glacier margin changes more slowly than it does at the snout of the outlet glaciers — but change it does. Notice the posts which are marked with years. The year records when the glacier margin was at that point.

Kortabæklingur: Gestagata, fræðslubæklingur - Brúárjökull

Embraced by glaciers - Visitor trail

Interpretation

1 The icecap

2 Bedrock

3 Nunataks

4 Glacier margin and moraines

5 Dirt cones

6 Climate change

7 Bedload and glacial silt

8 Ice caves

9 The river

10 Glacial retreat?

11 Dramatic wilderness

12 Vegetation

13 Return journey

Visitor trail booklet PDF and map

Kortabæklingar á PDF

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