Jökull - 01.10.1998, Page 9

Glacier Aspect Measurement period Years Area km2 Length km Elev. range m a.s.l.
VI. Hofsjökull
1. Blágnípujökull SW 1932-1941 51 13 860-1750
2. Nauthagajökull S 1932- 25 18 630-1780
3. Múlajökul' SE 1932- 70 20 610-1800
4. Sátujökull N 1950- 90 20 860-1800
VII. LangjökuII
1. Hagafellsjökull vestar 1 S 1890, 1934- 150 18 450-1350
2. Hagafellsjökull eystri1 S 1890, 1934- 105 19 440-1350
3. Jökulkrókur NE 1890, 1933- 55 11 720-1350
VIII. Hrútfell
1. Norðurkinn, austur NE 1933-1948 0.5 1.5 750-1400
2. Norðurkinn, mið NE 1933-1959 0.5 1.5 750-1400
3. Norðurkinn, vestur NE 1933-1959 1 3 690-1400
4. Norðvesturjökull NW 1933-1959 1 2 750-1300
IX. Kerlingarfjöll
1. Loðmundarjökull N 1932-1962 1.5 2 960-1300
X. Norðurlandsjöklar
1. Gljúfurárjökull N 1939- 3 2.5 600-1340
2. Hálsjökull N 1972- 0.5 1 760-1010
3. Tungnahryggsjökull NNW 1939-1958 4 2.5 700-1340
4. Barkárdalsjökull NE 1900, 1975- 3 1.5 950-1350
5. Bægisárjökull N 1939-1957 2 1.5 940-1300
6. Grímslandsjökull NNW 1993- 2 2 550-1040
1 Surge-type glacier
Islands in 1988-1990. This set of maps covers the
middle part of Iceland, but the mapping has not been
completed for the eastem and westem parts.
Guttormur Sigbjarnarson derived the variations of
south flowing glaciers from Langjökull (Sigbjarnar-
son, 1967), since approximately 1890, and north
flowing glaciers from Hofsjökull (Sigbjarnarson,
1981), since the turn of the century, from geological
evidence, aerial photographs and maps.
Maps of the bedrock and ice surface of the main
ice caps of Iceland have been made by the Science In-
stitute of the University of Iceland (Björnsson, 1988;
Bjömsson and others, 1992; Bjömsson, and Pálsson,
1991; Björnsson and Pálsson, 1994). These maps
show the outlines of Hofsjökull, large areas of Vatna-
jökull and Mýrdalsjökull, usually at the time of the
mapping, but sometimes derived from other older in-
formation such as aerial photographs.
Several foreign scientists and students have done
geomorphological and geological research on Ice-
landic glaciers in this century. Some of their results
have been incorporated in the tables of glacier varia-
tions below. Results of such investigations have not
been systematically catalogued and further work
needs to be done in order to extract more information
about glacier variations in Iceland from these sources.
DESCRIPTION OF GLACIERS
Most of the monitored glaciers in Iceland are out-
let glaciers from larger ice caps, the largest of which
are Vatnajökull, Hofsjökull, Langjökull and Mýrdals-
jökull (Fig. 1). Each of the ice caps and the monitored
outlet glaciers is briefly described below. Some
glaciers have been monitored at several locations,
sometimes in order to observe different branches or
streams of a large outlet glacier, but more often in
order to obtain a better picture of the average or over-
all behaviour of the glacier. Table 1 lists the glaciers
grouped according to the corresponding ice cap or
area. The length of the centre line of the glaciers, the
area and the elevation range are mainly derived from
two series of 1:50,000 scale maps: the AMS Series
C762, compiled from aerial photographs taken in
1945 and 1946, and the DMA Series C761 compiled
in 1988-1990 from “best available sources”, probably
aerial or space based images taken in the 1980s. The
information about Drangajökull and Snæfellsjökull in
the west and about Öræfajökull and Vatnajökull east
of Öræfajökull in the east are based on the AMS Se-
JOKULL, No. 45, 1998
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