Jökull - 01.12.1953, Blaðsíða 12

Fig. 3. On Kverkfjalla-
hryggur 4 July 1953.
A leið vestur Kverkfjalla-
hrygg aðfaranótt 4. júli
1953.
Phot. by Á. Kjartansson.
glacier margin at 00:35 hrs., having travelled 113
km since we left Kverkfjöll the previous night.
As the Tungnaá seemed more swollen than
when we crossed it on 28 June, we decided to
camp at the ice margin and try to cross the
river in the morning when its discharge was at
its minimum.
Sunday 5 July. — At 09:90 hrs. the temp. was
8°C and rain was approaching from SW. The
crossing of the river was less difficult than ex-
pected and at 13:20 hrs. we had mounted our
Bombardier on the truck. We reached the
Tungnaá at Hófsvað in heavy rain at 19:30 hrs.
The crossing took only 13 minutes. At 02:00
hrs. the following night we were in Reykjavík
again, having made the journey from Tungna-
árbotnar in 12 hours and from Kverkfjöll in
48 hours.
REPORT OF SCIENTIFIC RESULTS.
In the following I shall discuss briefly the
results and experience gained by the expedition.
I must emphasize, however, that owing to spe-
cial circumstances we had only ten days at our
disposal, which was far from sufficient for as
detailed observations as would have been desir-
able. But our knowledge of western Vatna-
jökull and the Kverkfjöll and Grímsvötn is so
scanty that ány new information may be of
some value.
Travel technique.
It has been something of a problem up to
now how to reach in the easiest way the interior
of Vatnajökull, at a time when the lowland is
bare of snow and the weather does not permit
the use of aircraft. As commonly known, such
weather conditions can sometimes prevail for
weeks. Judging from our experience, this pro-
blem can be satisfactorily solved by using
weasels or Bombardiers or other vehicles fit for
use on snow and ice, transporting them on a
truck' to the glacier margin. The shortest route
from Reykjavík to the interior of Vatnajökull
which can be travelled in this way is the route
we chose, but during very warm or very rainy
periods the river Tungnaá may be só swollen
for days that it cannot be crossed by truck. In
that case, it is possible to follow the main road
to North-Iceland and either travel from Mý-
vatn to Dyngjujökull, which however is likely
to be more crevassed than Tungnaárjökull, or
travel from Möðrudalur to Brúarjökull.
The surface conditions met with by us during
our first days of travel above the temporary
firn line are probably about the most
difficult one can expect on Vatnajökull.
It would probably have been very difficult or
even impossible to force Kverkfjallahryggur
from north via Dyngjujökull under the same
conditions while using the Bombardier. It may
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