Jökulsárlón
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July 2006: A visit to Jökulsárlón |
Jökulsárlón is a glacial lagoon located along the south coast of Iceland where a tongue of the giant Vatnajökull glacier has melted. Giant hunks of ice calve-off and float - sometimes for years - before being flushed out to the ocean nearby. |
The ice is constantly melting and flipping into new seemingly impossible shapes. The dark bands in some of the icebergs are formed by layers of sand that were deposited amid the snow, when the ice was first formed thousands of years ago. |
Jökulsárlón has become a popular tourist attraction, and has been featured as a location for a number of movies. Visitors can take a boat ride into the lagoon to get a close look at the fantastic natural sculptures. |
On this day the weather was overcast, giving the lagoon an ominous atmosphere, and protecting the clear blue ice from the sun. On a sunny day, the surface of the ice will melt into a more snow-like appearance. |
The icebergs float down a rushing river just a few hundred meters into the ocean. Then, the wind often pushes them back ashore, creating a bizarre landscape of ice and black sand. |
Above our heads, Arctic Terns cut through the fog. At our feet, some once mighty icebergs finally melted into oblivion. |
The combination of crashing waves, misty skies, black sand, and immense chunks of contorted ice made this a place quite unlike any other I've seen. |
Where is it? Jökulsárlón is located along the Iceland ring road, about an hour's drive east of the main entrance to Skaftafell National Park. You simply can't miss it. |
Before you go... It's probably best to visit early in the morning before the tour busses have arrived en-masse. Be sure to visit the beach, opposite the main parking area. There isn't always ice at the beach, but when there is, it's really neat. When we were there, dozens of tourists were at the lagoon, but we had the beach to ourselves... There isn't anywhere to spend the night close by. |
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