Two glacioloigsts taking temperature readings stand at the edge of the Fjallsarlon glacial lagoon. Large icebergs breaking off from the tongue float to the edge of the lagoon and eventually drift out into the sea.
Guides work to build a new bridge across a river draining from Falljokull glacier ahead of the summer season when meltwater run-off increases
Earlier and warmer summer temperatures are quickening the glacier’s melt rate, which results in braided runoff channels growing wider and deeper at a much faster rate. Park managers and guides have to continuously build, expand and relocate access routes to the glacier’s tip as the season progresses.
Guide leader Dieter Van Holder points to a canyon which Solheimajokull extended beyond just a few years ago. The glacier tongue is retreating by 100 metres a year, releasing millions of cubic metres of water in the process
Van Holder runs to warn two American tourists of a potential rockslide above them. The pair had left their group and ‘gone off’ the advised trail.
Guided tour trips venture up the tip of the Solheimajokull glacier south-western tongue.
Exposed layers of black rock-ash from the eruption of the Katla volcano in 1918 are increasingly prominent across the glacier as the ablation rate increases.
A former ice tunnel is inspected for safety. Compressed blue ice around the sides is much tougher than the fractured white ice at the roof.
Van Holder breaks away the tunnel’s weakened roof to ensure the route is safe for the day’s trips.
Van Holder climbs higher up the glacier to inspect a series of newly exposed crevasses that could be hazardous to stray climbers.
