Jökull - 01.12.1953, Qupperneq 8

SIGURDUR THORARINSSON:
The Grímsvötn Expedition June-July 1953
Travel Account and Report of Scientific Results
INTRODUCTORY.
In Aprll 1953 two years had passed since
Grímsvötn was last visited by an expedition
(The French-Icelandic Vatnajökull Expedition),
and during these two years no aerial recon-
naissance of this interesting volcanic area had
been carried out. In fact this was the
largest interval between reconnaissances of
this area, either from the ground or from the
air, since 1934. It is highly desirable to keep
this area under observation and notice the con-
tinuous changes there at so short intervals as
possible. Also, any new information of the
regime of the Grímsvötn intake area, viz. that
portion of Vatnajökull which drains into the
Grímsvötn depression, is of interest for the
solution of the Grímsvötn problem (cf. Thorar-
insson 1952). I therefore gladly accepted an
invitation to join and lead together with Á.
Kjartansson an expedition to Grímsvötn and
Kverkfjöll, which was to be set out in June 1953.
The members of the expedition were to be:
Árni Kjartansson, Leader,
Guðmundur Jónasson, Driver,
Erik Söderin,
Finnur Eyjólfsson,
Haukur Hafliðason,
Jón Sigurjónsson,
Magnús Eyjólfsson,
Magnús Þórarinsson,
Sigurður Þórarinsson, Leader
and Glaciologist,
all of them except Söderin, who is a Swedish
skiing instructor, members of Jöklafélag Islands.
Although the expedition was planned mainly
as a holiday journey, all the members were eager
to give it some scientific value too, and more
than willing to help in every way to carry out
some scientific programme.
It had been planned to use as much mechan-
ical transport as possible on the expedition. An
Auto Neige Bombardier, owned by. G. Jónas-
son, was to be transported in one of Jónasson’s
10-wheel trucks to Tungnaárbotnar, wherefrom
the journey across the glacier was to be made
on the Bombardier driven by Jónasson and
hauling the other members of the expedition
standing on their skis and holding on to ropes
fastened to the vehicle (cf. Fig. 3).
On June 26th G. Jónasson and the writer
went on a reconnoitring flight to Vatnajökull
in .a small airoplane (pilot Björn Pálsson), in
order to find the safest route to and across the
glacier and especially through the Grímsvötn
depression. Visibility was good except for a thin
layer of fog covering the southern part of the
Grímsvötn depression.
SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE JOURNEY.
Saturday 27 June. — The expedition started
from Reykjavik at 15 hrs. in fine weather. As
planned, the Bombardier was carried on a 10-
wheel G. M. C. truck, and the river Tungnaá
was crossed easily at Hófsvað at 21 hrs. At 4 hrs.
the following night our tents were pitched on
the rim of an old explosion crater E of Ljósu-
fjöll. Temp. at 04:00 hrs. 5°C.
Sunday 28 June. — Temp. at 10 hrs. 7°C.
Calm. Sunshine. We started at 10:45 hrs. and
reached the Tungnaá in Tungnaárbotnar at
ab. 12 hrs. Here the Tungnaá flows over a
sandur plain in many braided branches which
were forded and thoroughly examined by the
boys and afterwards crossed without great diffi-
culties in the Bombardier. The glacier margin
which we reached at 14:30 hrs. (Temp. then
4°C. Wind NE L), was a typical recession
margin, thinned out and smooth, but the
glacier seems to have receded only a few hund-
red metres from its maximal extension. A belt
of dirt cones near the margin offered some
difficulties but we reached the temporary firn
line in ab. 1000 m height at 16:00 hrs. There the
front wheels of the Bombardier were replaced
by skis, and we continued E-wards (cf. the map
Fig. 1.) through a slush zone and pitched our
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