Rit (Vísindafélag Íslendinga) - 01.07.1931, Blaðsíða 17

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a number of minor craters, from which quite recent lava-
streams have flown downwards and spread over the narrow
strip of low ground that runs along the seaboard.
The glacier cap is probably of no great fhickness. Only in
the crater cirque in NW a large mass of snow seems to
have accumulated. The firn seems to be gliding evenly out
in almost all directions and the »skridjökuls« are accordingly
rather short and probably in very slow motion.
Climatic Conditions. Unfortunafely no meteorological
observations have been made in the western part of Snæ-
fellsnes, the nearest station being Síykkishólmur on the N-
coast of the peninsula at a distance of some 50 km. ENE
of the glacier. By the aid of that station and other tempera-
ture data from the west-coast the mean temperature at the
western point of Snæfellsnes has been extrapolated for the
period ]une—Sept., in which one can reckon that ablation
takes place at the firnlimit of the glacier.
While this value is 8 ,9 in Sfykkishólmur I reckon with
9°,o for the southern and 8°,7 for the northern side of the
glacier (fig. 3).
The annual precipitation in Stykkishólmur amounts to
650 mm. As to the precipitation in the surroundings of the
glacier nothing can be said at present.
The Height of the Firnlimit. On my visit about ]uly
20th last summer I measured the height of the firnlimit in
diverse places with the exepfion of the north side. The results
were as follows:
Exposure: East South Southwest Northwest
Height m.: 880 950 1070 800
Thoroddsen puts the height of the snowline at 820 m.
in NE and 1040 m. in SW. Probably these values are only
derived from the map but not directly measured as he could
not ascend the glacier on account of unfavourable weather.
On ]uly 14th in 1789 Dr. Wright found the height at
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