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Glacier extent in Iceland, 1890–2019
Figure 5: The extent of Hofsjökull ice cap and the small glaciers in Kerlingarfjöll mountains southwest of the ice cap at
several times since the LIA maximum in ∼1890. – Útlínur Hofsjökuls og smájöklanna í Kerlingafjöllum á mismunandi
tímum frá því um 1890.
tively, during the time period ∼1890–2019, or 46%,
45% and 59% of their maximum LIA size. However,
Ok glacier, which had an area > 10 km2 at the end
of the LIA, has almost disappeared. It was declared
to no longer exist as a dynamically active glacier in
the year 2014, although a few small, thin patches of
a disintegrated glacier ice (in total 0.07 km2 in 2019,
< 0.03 km2 each) can still be found in the area.
Mýrdalsjökull, Eyjafjallajökull and smaller south-
ern glaciers
Mýrdalsjökull ice cap lost 216 km2 during the period
∼1890–2019, amounting to 29% of its maximum LIA
size. The main area loss has taken place on the north-
ern and eastern sides of the ice cap, where the ter-
mini have retreated between 2.5 and 3.5 km from their
maximum LIA extent (Figure 7). The rate of area
change since 2000 is in the range of −3.1 km2 a−1
to −5.7 km2 a−1 (Table 3). The highest area loss oc-
curred during 2010–2014, when Kötlujökull retreated
several hundred metres. However, it is worth noting,
that the delineation of the glacier terminus from the
lidar DEM (of 2010) is rather problematic at the ter-
minus, due to the debris cover, which is hard to differ-
entiate from the proglacial area.
The forefield of the outlet glacier Sólheimajökull
from Mýrdalsjökull ice cap (Figure 7) has been stud-
ied in detail (e.g. Schomacker et al., 2012, and
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