Jökull - 01.01.2020, Page 132

Society report
Sveakratern 1919 – Grímsvötn revisit 2019:
The legacy of Erik Ygberg and Hakon Wadell
Erik Sturkell1 and Magnús Tumi Gudmundsson2
1Department of Earth Sciences , University of Gothenburg, S-40530 Gothenburg, Sweden; sturkell@hi.is
2Nordvulk, Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Iceland, Sturlugata 7, 101 Reykjavík
https://doi.org/10.33799/jokull2020.70.129o
Abstract — The first recorded visit to Grímsvötn occurred on the 31st of August 1919. Two Swedish geology
students, Hakon Wadell and Erik Ygberg, stood on the edge of a hitherto unknown large caldera. This discovery
was the most significant finding in the first west-to-east transect across Vatnajökull, starting at Síðujökull on the
27th of August. This was an expedition into the unknown, but a principal aim was nevertheless to find the source
of the large jökulhlaups on Skeiðarársandur. They named the ice-filled caldera “Svíagígur”. Studies of written
sources in the 1930s revealed that this place was indeed Grímsvötn, well known in the 17th and 18th centuries
but the name and location had been forgotten in the 19th century. From Svíagígur they continued eastwards,
descending down the crevassed Heinabergsjökull, reaching civilization in the morning the 6th. They announced
the news that a huge volcano existed under Vatnajökull and this was the source of the jökulhlaups emerging
from Skeiðarárjökull. Upon their return to Stockholm, they received a hero’s welcome, but soon it all changed
into no one believing them, as prominent figures in Sweden at this time insisted that a volcano can’t be active
beneath a glacier! After they finished their studies, both left Sweden very disappointed. Hakon Wadell had a
successful geological career in America presenting a doctoral thesis in 1932 from the University of Chicago.
Erik Ygberg worked as an international prospector a few years before his bad health, a result of the hardships
experienced at the end of the Vatnajökull expedition, forced him back to Sweden, where he had a career at the
Swedish Geological Survey. The name Svíagígur has not been used but the two nunataks marking the highest
points on Grímsfjall are named in the honour of the two Swedes, Svíahúkur eystri and Svíahnúkur vestri.
INTRODUCTION
In the last days of August 2019 it was 100 years
since the Grímsvötn volcano was discovered or re-
discovered. It may have been visited during the Mid-
dle Ages before the full onset of the Little Ice Age
in Iceland. The climate change resulted in growth of
glaciers making Grímsvötn more inaccessible. The
discovery (or re-discovery) of the volcano was made
by two geology students, Hakon Wadell and Erik Yg-
berg from Stockholm Högskola (later Stockholm Uni-
versity as of 1960). They decided to explore the inte-
rior of Vatnajökull by transecting from west to east,
a crossing never done before. At the time, several
short expeditions had been made on the edges of the
glacier. One of the few north-south crossings had
been made by William Lord Watts and his compan-
ions in 1875. They travelled from Síðujökull to Kistu-
fell (Figure 1). This was the second attempt as Watts
and his group had to turn around halfway the year
before. Hakon Wadell and Erik Ygberg wanted to
do something never done before and to explore the
interior of Vatnajökull. Also, if possible, find the
cause of the jökulhlaups periodically emerging from
Skeiðarárjökull.
The Glaciological Society of Iceland (JÖRFI) ar-
ranged a trip to Grímsfjall where the Grímsvötn vol-
cano with its large caldera (almost 50 km2) is located,
JÖKULL No. 70, 2020 129