Jökull - 01.01.2013, Page 92

H. Ágústsson et al.
Figure 1. Mýrdalsjökull and the main rivers draining meltwater from the ice cap. Also shown is the glacier topo-
graphy with 100 m contour intervals, locations of drill sites since 2001 and nearby weather stations. The inset
shows the location of Mýrdalsjökull ice cap (M) in South-Iceland, Hofsjökull (H) in central Iceland as well as
Breiðamerkurjökull outlet glacier (B) and Öræfajökull ice cap in Southeast-Iceland (Ö). – Kort af Mýrdalsjökli
er sýnir 100 m hæðarlínur, helstu jökulár, mælistaði á jökli frá 2001 og staðsetningar nálægra veðurstöðva.
Innfellt kort sýnir Ísland, staðsetningu Mýrdalsjökuls (M), Hofsjökuls (H), Breiðamerkurjökuls (B) og Öræfa-
jökuls (Ö).
formed due to geothermal melting at the bed, are lo-
cated on the plateau (Björnsson et al., 2000; Björns-
son, 2009). The ice cap receives large amounts of
precipitation from the frequently passing lows which
most often approach from the south or southwest (see
e.g. Eyþórsson and Sigtryggsson, 1971; Rögnvalds-
son et al., 2004; Crochet et al., 2007). The ice cap
and the nearby mountains are the highest and broadest
massif at the south coast of Iceland, excluding Vatna-
jökull further to the east. As a result, the imping-
ing airflow experiences large orographic uplift and
increased precipitation compared to the surrounding
lowlands. However, due to the modest height of the
ice cap plateau (approx. 1350 m a.s.l.), mean temper-
92 JÖKULL No. 63, 2013