Jökull - 01.01.2020, Page 138

Sveakratern 1919 – Grímsvötn revisit 2019
A pair of photographs from approximately the same place below Svíahnúkur eystri (64◦25.21’N, 17◦15.34’W).
Top: September 1st, 1919. Below: June 5th, 2005. In 1919 the Vatnshamar cliff (to the right) was exposed but
fully covered by ice in 2005. However, the cliff became exposed again in 2018, after having been ice-covered
for about half a century. – Tvær ljósmyndir sem teknar eru í Grímsvötnum á nokkurn veginn sama stað, 1.
september 1919 og 5. júní 2005. Vatnshamar, sem sést á myndinni frá 1919 var hulinn jökli 2005, en kom aftur
í ljós 2018, eftir að hafa verið hulinn jökli í a.m.k. hálfa öld.
rapidly. Shortly after their return, Swedish scientists
started questioning the reported findings. In Sweden
they found it unlikely and impossible for a volcano
to be active under a glacier. Considering this argu-
mentation today, it looks most surprising, as only a
year earlier the Katla eruption in 1918 had been re-
ported on and it was clear to all that it had broken
through a glacier. Erik and Hakon were transformed
from heroes to laughingstocks, ignored and forgot-
ten. Despite this, Hakon published an article 1920
(Wadell, 1920a). In this article page 303 he stated:
“On 31 August we reached the crown of the ice-dome
which is about 1,700 m high, and which is marked on
the map by the name of Jökullbunga; on the evening
of the same day we encountered a huge crater basin
north of Skeiðarárjökull. The source of the volcanic
jökulhlaup had been discovered, and that solved the
principal problem of the expedition.”
The hostile environment that developed after the
initial welcome, left Erik and Hakon extremely dis-
appointed and both left Sweden after they graduated.
Erik Ygberg returned home after a few years abroad
because of health problems. The name “Sveakratern”
the Swede crater did not survive long and the name
Grímsvötn was reintroduced in 1936. It was Jóhannes
Áskelsson who considered it very likely the name
Grímsvötn, documented in several publications from
the beginning of the 17th century and into the early
part of the 19th century, applied to “Sveakratern”
(Þórarinsson, 1974). The name Grímsvötn first ap-
peared in a letter written around the beginning of
the 17th century and several other documents from
around that time (Þórarinsson, 1974). The mem-
ory of the achievements of Erik Ygberg and Hakon
Wadel is preserved in the names of the two peaks of
Grímsfjall, which bear the names Svíahnúkur eystri
JÖKULL No. 70, 2020 135