Rit (Vísindafélag Íslendinga) - 01.07.1931, Page 32

32
Fig. 21. The front of the Sólheimajökull. View from „Austasti hálsinn"
to E. (J. Ey. 27/7 1930).
above sealevel is about 100 m. and the distance from the
coast about 8 km.
From the western side of the glacier comes the dangerous
river Jökulsá á Sólheimasandi, remarkable for its peculiar
smell of HaS. A branch of the river takes its rise in a deep
gorge on the eastern side of Skógafjall and disappears under
the glacier margin. Sometimes the river tunnel is closed by
blocks of ice and great volumes of water are pent up in the
gorge, that produce sudden floods in the river, when the
tunnel opens again.
This glacier is known to have made considerable oscill-
ations. About 1783 it must have been about two km. shorter
than at present, at Ieast on the western side.1) Then it did not
close the mouth of the gorge of Jökulsá. About 1820 (Thor-
oddsen has erroneously 1860) it had extended so far that it
covered the mountain ridge called Jökuihöfuð (Glacierhead),
which now splits the glacier front into two tongues and
is free from ice for a stretch of 800 m. The last 250 m. of
this ridge have quite recently become free from ice. In
1703 the glacier seems to have been of the same magnitude
as now.
A more detailed description of this glacier will not be
attempted this time.
Figure 22 is a sketch of the glacier front with the estab-
lished fixing marks.
1) Lýsing íslands II. p. 33.