Icebergs on Jökulsárlón, a glacial lagoon in Iceland

Panorama of the Jökulsárlón glacial lake in Iceland

 

The icebergs in Jokulsarlon are composed of ice that is over 1,000 years old. Jokulsarlon glacier first started forming in 1934, when the Breidamerkurjokull glacier started retreating, leaving the lagoon in its path.

This glacier lagoon in Iceland has gotten four times bigger since the early 1970s.

Jökulsárlón lagoon in southeastern Iceland,

 

Jökulsárlón (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈjœːkʏlsˌaurˌlouːn] ; literally "glacial river lagoon") is a large glacial lake in southern part of Vatnajökull National Park, Iceland. Situated at the head of the Breiðamerkurjökull glacier, it developed into a lake after the glacier started receding from the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. The lake has grown since then at varying rates because of melting of the glaciers. The glacial front is now about 8 km (5.0 mi) away from the ocean's edge and the lake covers an area of about 18 km2 (6.9 sq mi). In 2009 it was reported to be the deepest lake in Iceland, at over 284 m (932 ft), as glacial retreat extended its boundaries. The size of the lake has increased fourfold since the 1970s.

Ice lagoon Jökulsárlón at the foot of the Vatnajökull Glacier, 2023

 

The lake can be seen from Route 1 between Höfn and Skaftafell. It appears as "a ghostly procession of luminous blue icebergs".

 

Grey seals on the Jökulsárlón lake

 

Jökulsárlón has been a setting for four Hollywood movies: A View to a Kill, Die Another Day, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, and Batman Begins, as well as the reality TV series The Amazing Race. In 1991, Iceland issued a postage stamp, with a face value of 26 kronur, depicting Jökulsárlón.

 

An iceberg with Öræfajökull (southernmost part of Vatnajökull) in the background: The icebergs in Jökulsárlón, as well as this iceberg, fell off Vatnajökull.

 

The tongue of the Breiðamerkurjökull glacier is a major attraction for tourists.

 

Bridge across the lagoon

 

Icebergs on Jökulsárlón, a glacial lagoon in Iceland

Icebergs on Jökulsárlón, a glacial lagoon in Iceland

 

Ever growing and never freezing, the Icelandic lagoon called Jökulsárlón is fed by melt from the glacier known as Breiðamerkurjökull. The glacier also provides the lagoon with a seemingly endless supply of icebergs, which calve off the main glacier to create floating decorations of ivory white and icy blue dusted with dark volcanic ash. Slowly fragmenting as they play bumper cars on the lake's surface, they'll eventually reach the lagoon's narrow outflow to the open ocean, some washing up as 'diamonds' on the nearby black-sand beach.

 

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