Toes of Icelandic glaciers retreating

Geologist Haraldur Gunnarsson at Eystri-Hagafellsjökull, a glacier that has retreated …

Geologist Haraldur Gunnarsson at Eystri-Hagafellsjökull, a glacier that has retreated by 700 metres in the space of one year. Photo/Einar Ragnar Sigurðsson

Are Icelandic glaciers going to vanish? Glaciologist Hrafnhildur Hannesdóttir says that glacier toes in Iceland are retreating and that glacial lagoons are being formed in front of many of the places where they are measured which makes access difficult. 

Hannesdóttir is assigned to measuring glacial toes, the point where the glacier ends, at the Iceland Met Office. This is relevant to glacier toes in the southern part of Vatnajökull and on Sólheimajökull. 

All glacier toes in Iceland measured last autumn had retreated except for the Múlajökull glacier toe. 

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