Geography of Iceland
General
Iceland lies close to the Arctic Circle and is 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) long 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 its formation is still ongoing. Iceland's interior consists entirely of mountains and high plateaus, devoid of human inhabitation. Iceland's 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 metres (6,950 feet).
All over the country, including the inhabited lowlands, there are vast areas of sandy wastelands, bare rock, stony deserts and lava fields.
Geographic facts about Iceland
Total area: 103.000 sq km
Cultivated: 1%
Pastures: 20%
Lakes: 2%
Lavas: 11%
Glaciers 11%
Sands: 4%
Other non-arable land: 50%
Climate
Considering the northerly location of Iceland, its climate is much milder than might be expected, especially in winter. The average 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 very changeable and depends mostly on the tracks of atmospheric depressions that cross the North Atlantic ocean. A depression passing some distance south of Iceland causes relatively cold and dry weather, especially in southern districts, whilst one passing northeastward between Iceland and Greenland brings mild weather, moderately dry in the north. Coastal areas in Iceland tend to be windy and gales are common, especially in winter. Thunderstorms are extremely rare.
The Northern Lights can often be seen on cold nights with clear skies, 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 north and warmest around Egilsstaðir in the east, yet none of these places quite escape the refreshingly cool Icelandic winds. 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.
Islands
There are numerous islands around the coast, some of them inhabited. The largest islands are the Westman Islands in the south, Hrísey in the north and Grímsey at the Arctic Circle - all are inhabited.
Glaciers
One of the most distinctive features of Iceland are the glaciers that cover about 11,260 square km (4,328 sq. miles) or 11 % of the country. Almost all types of glaciers are found in Iceland, ranging from the small bowl-shaped Alpine glaciers to vast glacier caps similar to the inland ice caps of Greenland. The latter are drained by very broad glacial outlets or by valley glaciers of the alpine type.
By far the largest of the ice 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.
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 on a clear day and is an amazing sight at sunset. 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 and Lakes
Rivers are numerous in Iceland and relatively powerful due to the heavy rainfall and abundant glacial meltwater. None of them have been considered navigable owing to the swift currents, though 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 muddy 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 used to be extremely difficult to build permanent roads, 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 kind originates from basalt areas and has a variable discharge with a 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 feature of the 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, some fill glacially-eroded basins, 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.
Flora
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.
Icelandic flora includes about 470 species of indigenous and naturalised species of vascular plants, including 37 species of vascular Cryptograms, 1 Gymnosperm, nearly 290 species of Dicotyledons and 145 species of Monocotyledons. Icelandic flora is therefore distinctly North European or Scandinavian in character. Because the climate is not an arctic one but a cold-tempered oceanic one, there are relatively few plants of the 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 green mosses on the lava fields.