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Monitoring of ice cauldrons Overview
Mýrdalsjökull is the southernmost glacier in Iceland and is almost 600 km2. It covers the upper part of a large volcano. The mountain is about 30 km in diameter and the highest peaks reach 1500 m a.s.l. In the center of the ice cap is the Mýrdalsjökull caldera. It is oval in shape with the longest axis NW-SE and covers an area 110 km2. The highest points of the ice cap lie on the caldera rim and include Goðabunga, Háabunga, Austmannsbunga, Enta, Entukollar (see maps and pictures 1 and 2). Within the caldera the ice is hundreds of meters thick.
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During the summer of 1999 some activity was noted within the Mýrdalsjökull caldera. On the night of the 18th July came a sudden flood in the river Jökulsá á Sólheimasandi. The source of the flood was meltwater from a depression formed simultaneously in the glacier surface, within the ice drainage basin of Sólheimajökull (picture 3, depression 7). After the flood existing depressions enlarged and crevasses were formed. The depressions became deeper during the summer and increased in number. The reason was increased geothermal activity. It is possible that there was a small eruption at the head of Sólheimajökull that formed depression 7 and caused the flood. |
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