Jökull - 01.12.1971, Page 4

1. mynd. Lega Bœgisárjökuls.
vestigations with emphasis on sediment trans-
port in the Bægisá-river have been worked out
by Sigurjónsson (1969). The results of the other
research topics are presented in this and the
next issue of Jökull.
Earlier work on topics related to those dealt
with in this report has been rather sporadic
in Iceland. The pioneer work on mass balance
and glacial meteorology in Iceland was carried
out on Vatnajökull by the Swedish-Icelandic
Expedition 1936—1938 (Ahlmann and Thorar-
insson 1943). Observations of the regime of
some outlet glaciers of south-west Vatnajökull
were carried out by Ives and King (1955a,
1955b). Later investigations on mass balance
have been limited to profile surveys on Tungna-
árjökull ('Freysteinsson 1968). Further, Sig-
bjarnarson (1967) has made an attempt to
estimate glacier shrinkage by comparison of
maps. Studies in glacial meteorology have been
done by Lister (1959) on Breidamerkurjökull.
The aim of the present study was to carry
out an investigation of the water balance of
a glacier-fed drainage area along with general
meteorological and energy budget measure-
ments on the glacier. Eor this purpose
Bægisárjökull (Latitude 65° 36' N, Longitude
18° 23' W) was chosen (Fig. 1). The glacier
is one of the numerous relatively small cirque
glaciers located in Iceland’s highest basalt
massive in Mid-North Iceland. The distance
from the main coast is about 75 kilometers.
The glacier is situated in the head of the
Bægisá-valley and flows in a northerly direct-
2 JÖKULL 21. ÁR
ion down the valley from a heiglit of 1250 to
1300 m down to 940 m a. s. 1. The length is 1.5
km, the greatest width 2 km and the total area
about 1.7 km2. The drainage basin is well
defined and only one river, the Bægisá-river,
flows from the glacier (Fig. 2). The glacier
lies in a rather rugged terrain with surround-
ing mountains reaching up to 1470 m. Accord-
ing to Ahlmann and Thorarinsson (1943) the
“glaciation limit” is believed to lie at approxi-
mately 1400 m. Earlier investigations on Bægis-
árjökull are limited to measurements of the
position of the terminus (Eythorsson 1957). A
general recession of the glacier has taken place
since its maximum size in the middle of the
19th century up to present times. Since 1924
the glacier has retreated about 650 m horizont-
ally and 150 m vertically. As indicated in Fig.
v PLUVIUS RAIN GAUGE
----WATER DIVIDE
Fig. 2. Bægisárjökull (1.7 krn2), Bægisá-river,
and the drainage basin (7.5 km2) above the
limnigraph. The glacier covers about 23 per-
cent of the total drainage basin.
2. mynd. Lega Bœgisárjökuls, Bægisár og vatna-
sviðs ofan rennslismœlis.