General

Iceland, the second largest island in Europe, lies close to the Arctic Circle. It is about midway between New York and Moscow. Iceland has a total area of 103,000 square km (39,756 square miles). From north to south the greatest distance is about 300 km (185 miles), from west to east about 500 km (305 miles). The coastline is about 6,000 km (3,700 miles) and the shortest distances to other countries are 286 km (180 miles) to Greenland, 795 km (495 miles) to Scotland and 950 km (590 miles) to Norway.

Geologically Iceland is a very young country, and the process of its formation is still going on. Iceland's interior consists entirely of mountains and high plateaus, devoid of human habitation. Its average height is 500 m above sea level, the highest point being Hvannadalshnúkur in the Öræfajökull glacier in Southeast Iceland, reaching a height of 2.119 m (6,950 feet).

Climate

Considering the northerly location of Iceland, its climate is much milder than might be expected, especially in winter. The mean annual temperature for Reykjavik's is 5°C, the average January temperature being -0.4°C and July 11.2°C. The annual precipitation on the south coast is about 3,000 mm, whereas in the highlands north of Vatnajökull it drops to 400 mm or less. The weather in Iceland is on the whole quite changeable and depends mostly on the tracks of the atmospheric depressions crossing the North Atlantic. The passage of a depression some distance south of Iceland causes relatively cold and dry weather, especially in southern districts, while one passing northeastward between Iceland and Greenland brings mild weather, moderately dry in the north.

Coastal areas in Iceland tend to be windy, gales are common, especially in winter, while thunderstorms are extremely rare.

The Northern Lights can often be seen, especially in autumn and early winter.

For two to three months in summer there is continuous daylight in Iceland, and early spring and late autumn enjoy long twilight. The really dark period (three to four hours' daylight) lasts from about the middle of November until the end of January.

Iceland's southern and western coasts experience relatively mild winter temperatures thanks to the warm waters of the Gulf Stream. July and August are the warmest months and, in general, the chances of fine weather improve as you move north and east. The sunniest weather is around Akureyri and Lake Mývatn in the central north and warmest around Egilsstaðir in the east, yet none of those places quite escapes the discomfort of a chilly wind. While these areas are more prone to clear weather than the coastal areas, the deserts in the interior may experience problems such as blizzards and high winds that whip up dust and sand into swirling, gritty maelstroms.

Iceland has some of the most active volcanoes in the world. There are about 200 post-glacial volcanoes, at least 30 of which have erupted since the country was settled in the 9th century AD. On the average there is an eruption every fifth year. Nearly every type of volcanic activity found in the world is represented in Iceland, the most common being fissure eruptions. One of these, the 30km-long row of craters, Lakagígar, with about 100 separate craters, erupted in 1783. The gases and ashes from this eruption poisoned the grasslands, causing tremendous damage in the countryside. This brought widespread famine and resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of people through starvation. The lava flow from this eruption is the largest known in the world, covering 565 square km.

Shield volcanoes of the Hawaiian type, like Skjaldbreiður near Thingvellir, are also numerous, but the only one active in historical times is the new Surtsey volcano. Almost all the cone volcanoes of the Fuji type are ice-covered, the largest of them being Öræfajökull (2.119 m), Eyjafjallajökull (1.666 m), and Snæfellsjökull ( 1.446 m). Craters created by volcanic explosions are also quite common.

The most famous Icelandic volcano is Hekla, which was renowned throughout the Catholic world during the Middle Ages for being the abode of the damned. Since its first recorded eruption in 1104, which destroyed vast areas, including the Þjórsárdalur settlement, Hekla has erupted 17 times in historic time continually bringing damage to the surrounding countryside. At the beginning of its eruption in March 1947, a column of smoke and ash rose to 100,000 feet. The eruption lasted 13 months. In May 1970, a number of small craters in Hekla erupted and the lava flow lasted for some two months. There were also a series of eruptions as recently as 1980 and 1981.

The volcano Katla, hidden beneath the ice of the Mýrdalsjökull glacier, has erupted at least 13 times since the settlement of Iceland, last in 1918. The eruptions of sub-glacial volcanoes cause massive floods which in the case of Katla may exceed the Amazon river in the volume of water. Askja, in the northeastern highlands, last erupted in 1961, but its eruption in 1875 was the last one to cause great damage. This earlier eruption formed Öskjuvatn (Lake Askja), the deepest lake in Iceland (220 m deep).

The most dramatic recent volcanic eruption began on the night of 23 January 1973, on the only inhabited island of the Westman group, Heimaey. In an outstanding operation, the entire population of some 5,300 people was moved to the mainland in a matter of hours, without accident. The eruption lasted until May and half of the town was submerged in lava while the remainder was covered by a thick layer of ash. The harbour and the most important fish-processing plants were saved through a bold experiment by Icelandic scientists, which consisted of cooling the encroaching lava flow by pumping thousands of tons of sea water onto it, which eventually succeeded in stopping the flow. As a result of the eruption, the island was considerably enlarged and the harbour vastly improved. Rescue and restoration work went on ceaselessly, and gradually most of the inhabitants returned to their much-altered domicile.

Sub-marine eruptions are frequent off the coasts of Iceland, especially on the Atlantic Ocean ridge southwest of the Reykjanes peninsula. The last sub-marine eruption, near the Westman Islands, began visibly on 14 November 1963, and created three new islands. One of the islands endured and was named Surtsey. The eruption continued for more than seven years.

Earthquakes are frequent in Iceland, but rarely dangerous. The most disastrous ones occurred in the southern lowlands in 1784 and 1896, leaving many farms in ruins. The village of Dalvík in Eyjafjörður, in the north, was partly destroyed by an earthquake in 1934. A minor volcanic eruption near Krafla in the northeast, where the first major power station utilizing natural heat was under construction, started in December 1975, and continued off and on for a number of years. Most recently, there were severe earthquakes in January 1976 that went on for some weeks, damaging part of the fishing village Kópasker, in the northeast.

Iceland is richer in hot springs and high-temperature geo-thermal activity than any other country in the world. High-temperature activity is limited to the now volcanic median zone where there are 14 solfatara fields. These are characterized by steam holes, mud pools, and sulphuric precipitation.
The main high-temperature areas are Torfajökull east of Hekla, Grímsvötn in the Vatnajökull glacier, Hengill near Reykjavík, Kerlingarfjöll, Námafjall near Mývatn, Kverkfjöll on the north side of Vatnajökull and Krísuvík south of Reykjav’k.

Low-temperature areas with hot springs are found all over Iceland. There are about 250 geothermal areas of this type with a total of about 800 hot springs.
The largest hot spring in Iceland, Deildartunguhver in Borgarfjörður, has a flow of about 250 litres of boiling water per second. Some of the hot springs are spouting springs or geysers, the most famous of which is the Great Geysir in Haukadalur in South Iceland, from which the international word geyser is in fact derived. It has been known to eject a column of hot water to a height of about 60 meters. Another renowned geyser in the vicinity of the Great Geysir is Strokkur.

Among the most distinctive features of Iceland are its glaciers, that cover about 11,260 square km (4,328 sq. miles) or 10,9 % of the total area of the country.
Almost all types of glaciers are found in Iceland, ranging from the small cirque glaciers to extensive glacier caps reminding one of the inland ices of Greenland. These latter are drained by broad lobe-shaped outlets or by valley glaciers of the alpine type.
By far the largest of the glacier caps is Vatnajökull in southeast Iceland with an area of 8,300 square km, equal in size to all the glaciers on the European mainland put together. It reaches a thickness of 1.000 m. One of its southern outlets, Breiðamerkurjökull, descends to sea level.

Other large glacier caps are Langjökull (953 sq. km) and Hofsjökull (925 sq. km), both in the central highlands, Mýrdalsjökull (596 sq. km) in the south, and Drangajökull (160 sq. km) in the northwest.
On the tip of Snæfellsnes, across the bay from Reykjavík, one of the smaller glaciers, Snæfellsjökull ( 11 sq. km) may be seen in clear weather and affords a fascinating sight at sundown. The Icelandic glaciers are exciting goals for hard adventurers, but many of them are dangerous to cross owing to rifts and crevasses in the ice.

Rivers are numerous in Iceland and relatively voluminous due to the heavy rainfall and abundant glacial meltwater,  none of them has been considered navigable owing to swift currents. But in the last few years rafting has become very popular.   Most of the rivers originate from the glaciers and are consequently heavily laden with debris, which make them turbid and often yellowish-brown in colour. The longest river, Þjórsá in the south, is 230 km long and has an average discharge of 390 cubic meters per second. The second longest, Jökulsá á Fjöllum in the northeast, is 206 km long. Other big rivers are Hvítá and Ölfusá in the south, Skjálfandafljót in the north, Lagarfljót and Jökulsá á Brú in the east.

Icelandic rivers are chiefly of two types, glacial and clear-water rivers. The former usually divide into numerous more or less intertwined tributaries that constantly change theirs courses and swing over the outwashed plains lying below the glaciers. This is especially true of the rivers running south from Vatnajökull. In this area it was extremely difficult to build a permanent road, since the bridges and parts of the roads were constantly being washed away when the glacial rivers reached their maximum discharge usually in July and August.

Clear-water rivers are of two kinds. One drains the old basalt areas and has a variable discharge with maximum flow in late spring. The other kind drains regions covered with post-glacial lava and usually has small variations in discharge, which makes them ideally suited for hydroelectric power production.

Waterfalls are an impressive characteristic of the youthful Icelandic landscape, and among the most famous are Gullfoss in Hvítá, Dettifoss in Jökulsá á Fjöllum, Aldeyjarfoss and Goðafoss in Skjálfandafljót, Hraunfossar in Hvítá in Borgarfjörður and Skógafoss in Skógá.

Lakes in Iceland are abundant, but most of them are rather small. Some of these lakes are formed by subsidence, other fill glacier-eroded basins, still others are lava-dammed, while a few are ice-dammed. The five biggest lakes in Iceland are Þingvallavatn (83 sq. km), which is 114 m deep, Þórisvatn (70 sq. km), Lögurinn (52 sq. km), the lagoon lake Hóp (45 sq. km), and Mývatn (38 sq. km). Lake Mývatn is world renowned for its fascinating scenery and incredibly rich bird life.

When Iceland was first settled in the 9th century it was said to have been covered with trees from the shores to the mountain tops. But due to unchecked sheep grazing and logging for fuel and building materials, the forests have all but disappeared. Now there are few small wooded areas, the biggest one being the forest at Hallormsstaður on the east coast, and Vaglaskógur in the north.
A resolution was passed on July 27th 1974, allotting a large sum of money to stop the erosion of Iceland and for reclamation of what had been lost already.
The Icelandic flora includes about 470 species of indigenous and naturalized species of vascular plants, including 37 species of vascular Cryptograms, 1 Gymnosperm, nearly 290 species of Dicotyledons and 145 species of Monocotyledons. The character of the Icelandic flora is therefore distinctly North European or Scandinavian. Because the climate is not an arctic one but a cold-tempered oceanic climate relatively few plants are of arctic-alpine species. There is an abundance of grass and moss varieties, which tend to flourish much better here than in similar regions of northern Scandinavia and Greenland.

The most common kinds of vegetation are various types of low-growing shrubs, especially heather, crowberry, bearberry, willow and dwarf birch. Some of the most striking features in the landscape, particularly so in the southwest, are the lichens and mosses on the lava fields.

All over the country, including the inhabited lowlands, there are vast areas of sandy wastelands, bare rock, stony deserts and lava fields.

When Iceland was settled in the ninth century, the Arctic fox was the only land mammal in the country. Foxes are still common all over Iceland and are known to ravage sheep. Man later accidentally introduced the brown rat, the black rat, the house mouse, and the field mouse. Reindeer were imported from Norway in the late eighteenth century, and there are considerable numbers of them in the highlands of the east. In about 1930, mink was introduced for fur farming, but soon escaped in great numbers and reverted to its wild state, causing great damage to bird life and fresh-water fish. Polar bears have occasionally ended up in Iceland on drift ice, but have always been killed shortly after their arrival.

The most common domestic animals are cattle, sheep and horses. Other farm and domestic animals include pigs, goats, dogs and cats, hens, geese, ducks, turkeys, pigeons and angora rabbits.

.The Icelandic horse. The first people to settle Iceland brought horses with them from Norway, as well as other domestic animals. The horses, now called Iceland horses, are small and sometimes referred to as ponies. The breed has been isolated in the country for over 1100 years and is therefore considered a unique breed.
For centuries the horse was the principal means of transportation and its meat an important foodstuff. Now horseback riding has become a popular sport and is commonly practiced in the country's urban as well as rural areas.
The Iceland horse is hardy and sure-footed and has a variety of five natural gaits, which is more than most other horse breeds are capable of. The five gaits are walk, trot, gallop, amble or pace, and a running walk called tölt. The tölt and pace are sought after qualities in the Iceland horse, since the gaits make for an astonishingly smooth ride

All counted, 241 kinds of birds are known to have visited Iceland at one time or another. Of these 72 nest regularly, 6 are common passage migrants, about 30 are regular drift migrants or winter visitors, and the rest end up here accidentally. Sea birds, waterfowl, and waders are the most common indigenous birds..
Iceland is one of the major breeding grounds of waterfowls in Europe, and Lake Mývatn is renowned for its abundance of waterfowl. There are no fewer than 16 species of ducks known to nest in Iceland, including two American species; Barrow's Goldeneye and the harlequin duck. Two nesting species and three passage migrants represent the geese. Iceland is one of few places where the whooper swan is still a common breeding bird. It is most numerous on lakes lying on the borders of the central highlands.

On the towering bird cliffs along the coast of Iceland, the most important sea birds are the common guillemot, Brunnich's guillemot, the razorbill, the puffin, the kittiwake, the fulmar, and the gannet. The puffins, however, by no means strictly a cliff-breeding bird as it also forms huge colonies on low-lying grassy islands. It is one of the most common Icelandic bird species with a population running into millions

The most celebrated of all Icelandic birds is the Icelandic falcon, which in former times enjoyed a great reputation amongst falconers. The huge white-tailed eagle was formerly fairly common, but now it has been reduced to such an extent that grave concern must be felt for its future. Two species of owl inhabit Iceland. The snowy owl, which is extremely rare, was restricted to certain wild parts of the central highlands. The short-eared owl is found in low-lying moorland and valleys. The short-eared owl preys on field mice and small birds, while the snowy owl, like the falcon, usually preys on the ptarmigan, which are the country's only gallinaceous bird and also its most important game bird.

Icelandic rivers are abound with salmon, while trout and char are plentiful in lakes and streams. Two other species of freshwater fish are also to be found, the eel and the three-spined stickleback. None of these five species are really freshwater fish, but represent marine species that are establishing themselves in fresh water.

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