Jökull - 01.01.2020, Qupperneq 6
Glacier extent in Iceland, 1890–2019
Figure 1: Glaciers and ice caps in Iceland. Each ice cap or glacier group is indicated with boxes and figure numbers. Small
glaciers < 3 km2 (belonging to regional glacier groups) are shown with blue dots, referred to as East, Southeast, Kerlinga-
fjöll, Northwest, South and West Iceland glaciers in Table 1. D=Drangajökull, T=Tröllaskagi glaciers, F=Flateyjarskagi
glaciers, S=Snæfellsjökull, Ei=Eiríksjökull, L=Langjökull, Þ=Þórisjökull, H=Hofsjökull, Ke=Kerlingarfjöll, Tu=Tungna-
fellsjökull, V=Vatnajökull, Þr=Þrándarjökull, Ti=Tindfjallajökull, To=Torfajökull, Ey=Eyjafjallajökull, M=Mýrdalsjökull,
St=Steingrímsfjarðarheiði mountain pass. – Jöklar á Íslandi. Útmörk kortanna sem fylgja á eftir eru sýnd með svörtum köss-
um og myndanúmerum. Litlir jöklar eru sýndir með bláum punktum og eru nefndir Austurlandsjöklar, Suðausturlandsjöklar,
Kerlingarfjallajöklar, Vestfjarðarjöklar, Suðurlandsjöklar og Vesturlandsjöklar í töflu 1.
Approximately 170 glaciers are found on the
Tröllaskagi peninsula, N-Iceland, covering an area
of approximately 130 km2 in total (in 2019) (Björns-
son, 1991; Sigurðsson et al., 2017). Most of them
are located on north-facing cirques and valleys, and
range in size from 0.1–7 km2. The precipitation is
relatively low, arrives mainly with northerly winds
and varies from 400 mm a−1 in some lowland areas to
2000–3000 mm a−1 near the summits (Crochet et al.,
2007). Most of the glaciers are partly debris-covered
(due to frequent avalanches and rockfalls from steep
head walls), although a few of them are debris-free
(Björnsson, 1991; Wangensteen et al., 2006; Kellerer-
Pirklbauer et al., 2007; Björnsson and Pálsson, 2008).
The insulating effect of the debris cover makes them
less sensitive to climate variations than most other
glaciers in Iceland (e.g. Martin et al., 1991).
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