Náttúrufræðingurinn - 2023, Page 68

ENGLISH SUMMARY
Permafrost in Iceland
The author summarizes his work on
permafrost in Iceland which spans more
than half a century. A major conclusion
of this article is that during the LGM
the ice-sheet on Iceland was rather re-
stricted giving ample opportunities for
permafrost in the mountainous areas to
leave its mark on the landscape. Among
the most prominent of these landforms
are cirques, many of which have been
occupied and eroded by permafrost and
rock glaciers for a long time. The distri-
bution of numerous permafrost features
all over Iceland is presented. Most are
to be found in areas of alpine landscapes
like in the Vestfirðir of northwest Ice-
land, the Tröllaskagi massif in central
northern Iceland and in the Austfirðir
mountains, East Iceland. Investigations
of the different activity state of rock
glaciers (active, inactive and relict) in-
clude altitude/distance from the ocean
and aspect as a function of altitude. Ob-
servations have also been made on the
sediment content of the rock glaciers,
especially the relict ones (due to acces-
sibility). The author presents results
of research in this field in cooperation
with Norwegian and French scientists.
A special field of interest has been map-
ping the debris covered mountain sides
where there is an increased risk of these
features collapsing when permafrost re-
cedes as a result of global warming. Tun-
dra like permafrost is widespread in the
central plateau of Iceland above c. 600
m a.s.l. exhibiting typical landforms like
palsas and lithalsas The existence and
activity of these landforms may most
likely be connected to reduced temper-
atures during the Little Ice Age. At pres-
ent these features generally show clear
signs of degeneration.
20. mynd. Hitamynd frá Veðurstofu Ís-
lands. Rofsárið og skriðuefni í Hítardal
nokkrum klukkustundum eftir framhlaupið
2018. Ljósari gulbrúnn litur sýnir svalara
svæði en annarsstaðar á hlaupsvæðinu.
– Thermal image of the landslide in Hít-
ardalur several hours after the event. The
orange colour in the upper part indicates
„cooler“ area (indicating permafrost) at
the top of the mountain. Ljósm./Photo:
Veðurstofa Íslands July 2018.
Urðarjöklar og urðarjöklaset undir Skessuhorni í norðanverðri Skarðsheiði 2022 – Active- and relict Rockglaciers at
the base of Skessuhorn on the north side of Skarðsheiði (Borgarfjörður). Ljósm./Photo: Ágúst Guðmundsson 2022.
Náttúrufræðingurinn
156
Ritrýnd grein / Peer reviewed