Skaftafellsjökull is an outlet glacier of Vatnajökull.
Vatnajökull is the largest glacier in Iceland. It covers more than eight percent of Iceland’s territory and is the largest glacier in Europe by volume. It is so vast that we must go to outer space to take a picture of it. I can only show a tiny glimpse and even that is not representing it well because Vatnajökull is an ice cap. It covers land as a huge shield with an average thickness of 400 meters. On the photo above is just an edge of one of its numerous outlet glaciers that flow slowly because of Vatnajökull’s huge mass.
Why does it look dirty? Shouldn’t glaciers be pure white with bluish cracks? Yes, it is definitely less dirty as we move towards the interior of it but its edges are full of sand and gravel because of two reasons. Glaciers simply pick up this material as they flow. The farther they flow, the more material they contain. And the second reason is that glaciers melt as they move downward and that increases the concentration of debris they contain.
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