[HN Gopher] Atlas of Icelandic glaciers
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Atlas of Icelandic glaciers
Author : SolonIslandus
Score : 37 points
Date : 2022-06-13 15:32 UTC (7 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (islenskirjoklar.is)
(TXT) w3m dump (islenskirjoklar.is)
| CalRobert wrote:
| There's a wonderfully written story by Andri Snaer Magnason of a
| scientist couple setting out to map Icelandic glaciers. Their
| seemingly eternal nature was a recurring theme.
|
| He's the grandson of one of the scientists. It appears in Dark
| Mountain issue 14 https://dark-mountain.net/product/dark-
| mountain-issue-14-pdf... though I believe he has since written a
| book.
| SolonIslandus wrote:
| The Atlas of Icelandic glaciers is a collaboration project of
| various Icelandic government agencies, institutions and
| corporations documenting the development, and changes (retreat
| and disappearance) of Icelandic glacier over the past 100+ years.
|
| Selecting various glaciers on the map makes it possible to see
| general information, changes in surface area and access the raw
| data. The map options can be used to display information,
| including historical borders of glaciers. There is also a
| substantial collection of photographs, both historical and
| present, showing the development of the glaciers since the early
| 1900s.
| subjectsigma wrote:
| Thanks for posting. Judging by your name and post history, you
| seem to be Icelandic, or at least knowledgeable about Iceland.
| Maybe a stupid question, but is winter the best time to see
| these glaciers? I would love to return to Iceland in the winter
| but everyone I talked to acted like traveling during the winter
| was quite dangerous.
| joshenders wrote:
| As a foreigner myself, the winter is my favorite time of the
| year in Iceland. The landscape is beautiful and the glacier
| lagoon is quite full of icebergs and excursions like [into
| the glacier](https://intotheglacier.is) or snowmobiling are
| very enjoyable on a clear day.
|
| 30 days on either side of the peak of winter (21st of
| December) daylight is limited and that can make seeing things
| more difficult. The sun rises not very far from the horizon
| between 11am and 4pm but enjoyment of most activities will
| primarily depend on what you plan on doing and how lucky you
| get with the weather. It's very unpredictable, even hour by
| hour, so you're at the mercy of nature to have good
| visibility from frequent snow storms.
|
| As a tourist in Winter, you're probably best to be taking
| guided excursions from Reykjavik and not backpacking the
| highlands or driving the ring road in a camper van. Those
| activities could in fact be very dangerous if you aren't
| prepared.
| hef19898 wrote:
| Thr ring road is usually well kept so, if you some
| experience driving in winter conditions you are fine. I
| don't recommend the camper van, mostly because I don't like
| winter camping myself.
| mynameisash wrote:
| Not GP nor an Icelander, but I literally just left Keflavik
| this morning, my first time in the country. Had a great stay
| there. My Airbnb host said that August to April is peak
| aurora borealis time, but May to August is the warmest
| weather - likely 50-60degF most days. He said 8-10 days for
| the ring road is good. Don't do much less than that or you'll
| be rushed.
| hef19898 wrote:
| Not Icelandic but been there a couple of times. In winter you
| can actually go on the glaciers with guided tours (costly but
| nice), in summer there are a couple of spots you can drive
| towards them in a normal rental car.
|
| They are nice everytime of the year so, and quite
| spectacular. Road conditions in winter can be trickey, but
| manageable.
|
| My opinion, you have to visit Iceland at least twice: once in
| winter and once in summer, it is completely different! In
| case you want to go to the highlands, go in August or late
| July. A Dacia Duster rental will get you there. Winter trips
| can be shorter so, in summer you go around Iceland or cross
| it which takes more time.
| meheleventyone wrote:
| Travelling here in winter can be quite dangerous. Just this
| winter I left my car on a turn off on the main road from
| Keflavik to Reykjavik picking up my parents from the airport
| because there was an insanely icy section. The rear tyres
| were at the end of their life and it just wasn't safe to
| drive. We got picked up by my father in law and drove passed
| five separate crashes in the space of 1km. I rolled a Nissan
| Patrol off the side of route one exiting Reykjavik towards
| the south hitting a patch of ice with good, studded tyres on,
| narrowly missing traffic going both ways. Driving back from a
| weekend away, my wife and I were driving to the back route up
| onto the same mountain pass. It'd been very sunny so the
| south facing road was clear of snow and we narrowly avoided
| getting hit by a driver coming down it who hadn't noticed the
| snow drift on the road and was coming way too fast. They shot
| off into a field and after an extremely bumpy few seconds
| managed to steer back. And that's just the highlights of the
| last ten years. I ski tour quite a bit so travel often in the
| winter and have seen unending stupidity and dumb decision
| making that wasn't quite as terrifying. In particular common
| tourist routes like the Golden Circle can become impassable
| or dangerous to attempt if you don't have a proper vehicle.
|
| The trick is choosing when to travel and as a tourist you're
| often uniquely compelled to try to drive in dangerous
| conditions. Coming here in winter is very much an exercise in
| adjusting plans to the conditions, taking note of the road
| condition information and driving very carefully.
| hulitu wrote:
| Arrath wrote:
| So will your comment, with time. And this reply.
|
| Why not spiral down a nihilistic pit and write off our brief
| existences?
| the_third_wave wrote:
| ...and come back again, only to disappear once more whereupon
| they reform in the next cycle. This has happened many times
| already and it will continue on its way until the sun heats
| up the atmosphere enough to boil off all water/Iceland
| succumbs to some massive volcanic eruption/etc.
|
| Realise that according to the prophesies of doom you are
| quoting you would have been dead many times over, many years
| ago. Seeing as how you're still around to tell us those
| glaciers will meet an untimely end those prophecies - and
| with that your claim - do not carry the weight they are often
| given.
| meheleventyone wrote:
| Across the permanence of time all things will but that
| doesn't mean we shouldn't enjoy them whilst they're here.
| gnulinux wrote:
| Unelaborated nihilism is the most useless of all arguments.
| If we were to take your point to extreme, we wouldn't get out
| of bed because everything will disappear one day. So, for a
| claim like this to contribute something to the conversation,
| one needs to explain why uselessness of this thing overpowers
| usefulness of other things.
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