Jökull - 01.01.2021, Page 114

Guðrún Larsen og Þórdís Högnadóttir
14. mynd. Vík í Mýrdal séð úr suðri. Myndin er tekin eftir Kötlugosið því húsið sem ber við jökulinn, Grund,
var reist 1922 (Þórir N. Kjartansson, skrifl. upplýsingar). Myndin hefur sennilega verið tekin að vori eða
snemmsumars því beðin í görðum að baki húsa vestantil í þorpinu hafa verið hreykt en kartöflugrös eru ekki
komin upp. Sandurinn í forgrunni virðist nú mun breiðari en á myndum teknum í Kötlugosinu haustið 1918 en
sandfjaran framan við Víkurþorpið breikkaði fljótt vegna framburðar jökulhlaupa í Kötlugosinu (Guðgeir Jó-
hannsson 1919, 58). Þorlákur Sverrisson flutti til Vestmannaeyja 1925 svo myndin er frá tímabilinu 1922–1925.
(Mynd ÞS-2-014, Þjóðminjasafn Íslands. Eign JH). – Photo showing the Vík village some time between 1922
and 1925, view from south. The sandur in front of the village appears to be wider than on photos from 1918.
Sediments carried to the sea by the 1918 jökulhlaup broadened the beach in the following years. (After plate
ÞS-2-014, National Museum of Iceland. Property of IES).
English abstract
During the 1918 eruption of the Katla volcano within
the Mýrdalsjökull glacier Mr. Þorlákur Sverrisson
store-keeper in the Vík village, Mýrdalur district, took
photographs of the eruption cloud and the resulting
jökulhlaup routes/deposits and ice-canyon. The Katla
eruption began shortly after noon on October 12 and
had ceased by November 4, 1918. Sverrisson’s pho-
tographs were taken throughout the eruption, the first
two almost certainly on the first day of the eruption
and the last four on November 2 when an eruption
cloud at Katla volcano was last seen.
Sverrisson’s photographs were taken on glass
plates and 18 of which were presented to the Science
Institute, University of Iceland in 1975. The Institute
had two sets of paper-copies made and the glass plates
were then stored in a safe. When the cabinet was emp-
tied the glass-plates were delivered to the National
Museum of Iceland. The digital copies presented here
were made at their Photographic collection. The num-
bers ÞS-2-001 to 018 refer to that collection.
Twelve photographs (Figures 2–9) show the erup-
tion cloud at different times during the eruption. The
photos show changes in the eruption cloud - and hence
changes in the eruption intensity and style - from a
high, convective dark cloud of steam and ash to a low
and slanting cloud of white steam. They also verify
two source areas within the glacier (Figure 5b) and
shift of the source vents during the eruption.
112 JÖKULL No. 71, 2021