Destination Guide To Iceland

GEOGRAPHY & BACKGROUND

Iceland, officially the Republic of Iceland (Icelandic: Ísland or Lýðveldið Ísland IPA: ['lið?v?ld?ð? 'island]) is a volcanic island nation in the northern Atlantic Ocean between Greenland, Norway, the islands of Great Britain & Ireland, and the Faroe Islands.

Iceland is located in the North Atlantic Ocean just south of the Arctic Circle, which passes through the small island of Grímsey off Iceland's northern coast, but not through mainland Iceland. Unlike neighbouring Greenland, Iceland is considered to be a part of Europe, not a part of North America. Due to cultural, economic and linguistic similarities, Iceland in many contexts is also included in Scandinavia. It is the world's 18th largest island, and Europe's 2nd largest island following Great Britain.

Approximately 10 percent of the island is glaciated. Many fjords punctuate its 3,088 miles (4,970 km) long coastline, which is also where most towns are situated because the island's interior, the Highlands of Iceland, is a cold and uninhabitable combination of sands and mountains. The major towns are the capital Reykjavík, Keflavík, where the national airport is situated, and Akureyri. The island of Grímsey on the Arctic Circle contains the northernmost habitation of Iceland.

The only native land mammal when humans arrived was the arctic fox. It came to the island at the end of the ice age, walking over the frozen sea. There are no native reptiles or amphibians on the island. There are around 1,300 known species of insects in Iceland (ca. 1,100 of them endemic), which is rather low compared with other countries (there are about 925,000 known species in the world). During the last Ice Age almost all of the country was covered by permanent snow and glacier ice. This explains the low number of living species in Iceland.

When humans arrived, birch forest and woodland probably covered 25-40% of Iceland’s land area. But soon the settlers started to remove the trees and forests to create fields and grazing land. During the early 20th century the forests were at their minimum and were almost wiped out of existence. The planting of new forests has increased the number of trees since, but this can not be compared with the original forests. Some of those planted forests have included new foreign species.

Iceland has four national parks: Jökulsárgljúfur National Park, Skaftafell National Park, Snæfellsjökull National Park, and Þingvellir National Park.

Area

Whole country: 103,000 km² (39,768.5 mi²)
Vegetation: 23,805 km² (9,191 mi²)
Lakes: 2,757 km² (1,065 mi²)
Glaciers: 11,922 km² (4,603 mi²)
Wasteland: 64,538 km² (24,918 mi²)

Geological and volcanic activity

The volcanic lake of Grímsvötn on the glacier of Vatnajökull. Dettifoss, the most powerful waterfall in Europe, is located in northeastern Iceland.Iceland is located on both a geological hot spot, thought to be caused by a mantle plume, and the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. This combined location means that the island is extremely geologically active, having many volcanoes, notably Hekla, Eldgjá, and Eldfell. The volcanic eruption of Laki in 1783-1784 caused a famine that killed nearly a quarter of the island's population; the eruption caused dust clouds and haze to appear over most of Europe and parts of Asia and Africa for several months after the eruption. There are also geysers (a word derived from the name of one in Iceland, Geysir). With this widespread availability of geothermal power, and also because of the numerous rivers and waterfalls that are harnessed for hydropower, residents of most towns have hot water and home heat for a low price. The island itself is composed primarily of basalt, or cooled lava.

Iceland controls Surtsey, one of the youngest islands in the world. It rose above the ocean in a series of volcanic eruptions between November 8, 1963 and June 5, 1967.

Largest lakes

Þórisvatn (Reservoir): 83-88 km² (32-34 mi²)
Þingvallavatn: 82 km² (31.7 mi²)
Lögurinn: 53 km² (20.5 mi²)
Mývatn: 37 km² (14.3 mi²)
Hvítárvatn: 30 km² (11.6 mi²)
Hóp: 30 km² (11.6 mi²)
Langisjór: 11.6 km² (10 mi²)

Deepest lakes

Öskjuvatn: 220 m (722 ft)
Hvalvatn: 160 m (525 ft)
Jökulsárlón: 150 m (492 ft)
Þingvallavatn: 114 m (374 ft)
Þórisvatn (Reservoir): 113 m (371 ft)
Lögurinn: 112 m (367 ft)
Kleifarvatn: 97 m (318 ft)
Hvítárvatn: 84 m (276 ft)
Langisjór: 75 m (246 ft)

Distance to nearest countries and islands

Greenland: 287 km (178 mi)
Faroe Islands: 420 km (261 mi)
Jan Mayen (Norway): 550 km (342 mi)
Scotland: 798 km (496 mi)
Norway (mainland): 970 km (603 mi)

For more information please visit http://www.fco.gov.uk/

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