Fostering glacier termini

Abstract

The article presents an overview of the history of the monitoring programme of glacier termini fluctuations in Iceland. The programme was initiated by meteorologist Jón Eyþórsson in 1930, and the measurements were initially carried out by local farmers. In recent decades, the measurements have been conducted by volunteers of the Iceland Glaciological Society with a very diverse professional background. Every autumn, the distance to the glacier terminus has been measured from a reference post, usually marked with a cairn and/or a metal pole. Glacier terminus variations in Iceland since 1930 show a clear relationship with climate changes. The terminus variations data set also contains information about the surges of many glaciers.