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Vatnajökull.jpeg
Vatnajökull (pronounced vat'najö'küdll) is the largest glacier in Iceland. It is situated in the south-east of the island, covering more than 8% of the country. With its size of 8,100 km² it is the largest glacier in Europe in volume and the second largest (after Austfonna on Nordaustlandet, Svalbard) in area. The average thickness of the ice is 400 m, with a maximum thickness of 1000 m.
VatnajoekullDetailSkaftafell.jpg
Iceland's highest mountain, Hvannadalshnjúkur (2,119 m), is to be found in the southern periphery of Vatnajökull, near Skaftafell National Park.
Under the glacier, as under many of the glaciers of Iceland, there are some volcanoes. The volcanic lakes, Grímsvötn for example, were the sources of a large glacier run in 1996. The volcano under these lakes also caused a considerable but short-time eruption in the beginning of November, 2004.
The Vatnajökull has been shrinking for some years now, possibly because of climatic changes and recent volcanic activity.
See also
External links
- Photos of Vatnajökull from www.islandsmyndir.is (http://www.islandsmyndir.is/html_skjol/halendid/vatnajokull/vatnajokull_yfirlit08.htm)
- search engine and map of Iceland (http://gis.bofh.is/ornefnaskra/)da:Vatnajökull
de:Vatnajökull fr:Vatnajökull is:Vatnajökull it:Vatnajökull nl:Vatnajökull pl:Vatnajökull pt:Vatnajökull sv:Vatnajökull