Posts (page 2)

Skeiðarársandur, originally uploaded by trayflow.

Skeiðarársandur is the largest sandur in the world. It is a virtual wasteland located the Vatnajökull icecap and the sea along Iceland's south-eastern coast. It is 1300 km² in size. Volcanic eruptions occur under the icecap which cause glacial bursts. A bad one happened in 1996 which caused 12.8 million cubic metres of sediment to be deposited in the area. It washed away the section of the Ring Road that was only completed in 1974.

Glacial water meets fresh water, Fjallsárlón, Iceland, originally uploaded by trayflow.

I studied this for ages while Tom and Sofia rock-hunted. It was beautiful watching the minerals from the glacial ice melt into the freshwater and make all of these cloudy patterns. Nature is so very interesting.

Fjallsárlón, originally uploaded by trayflow.

Yet another glacial lagoon/lake. They are all so different and so pretty in their own way.

Jökulsárlón, originally uploaded by trayflow.

Attempting a family photo at Jökulsárlón. Sofia being goofy. We eventually got one, but the out-takes are actually much better!

Jökulsárlón, originally uploaded by trayflow.

This is high on the tourists' lists of things to see in this part of Iceland. It is the most well known of the glacial lagoons/lakes. It is near the ring road between Höfn and Reykjavik. There were hoards of people here taking photos. Far more people than we had seen for days.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jökulsárlón

Farming near the glacier, originally uploaded by trayflow.

Looks a bit out of place here, doesn't it? I wonder if the receding glacier leaves behind fertile soil?

Hoffellsjökull, originally uploaded by trayflow.

This is the glacial lagoon where I went down to the water to see the remains. It wasn't easy to get down to this place. Again we praised the gods that gave us the four wheel drive instead of the compact car. We felt bad for the people who parked halfway down the rough gravel road and walked the rest of the way down. It we would have had room we could have picked them up.

The little sheep family, originally uploaded by trayflow.

I know, more sheep! This little family looked so happy curled up together. And look at that backdrop. No wonder they are happy.

Glacial remains, originally uploaded by trayflow.

Ice chunk sitting on the edge of the lagoon. The little ice pieces fit together like a little puzzle. I tried pulling a piece off and it just slid around connected to all of the other little pieces. It took some doing to get a piece off to take back up the hill to Sofia.

Glacial lagoon, originally uploaded by trayflow.

Glacier off in the distance with calved ice chunks in foreground. It is amazing how long it takes these chunks to melt. The sun was shining and you could hear drip, drip, drip as the ice melted into the lagoon.