JokullPub Date : 2022-01-01DOI: 10.33799/jokull2022.72.035
G. Wells, A. Dugmore, Þ. Sæmundsson, T. Beach, Sheryl Luzzadder-Beach, Daniel Ben‐Yehoshua
{"title":"Geomorphologic evidence of jökulhlaups along the Hvítá River, southwestern Iceland","authors":"G. Wells, A. Dugmore, Þ. Sæmundsson, T. Beach, Sheryl Luzzadder-Beach, Daniel Ben‐Yehoshua","doi":"10.33799/jokull2022.72.035","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.33799/jokull2022.72.035","url":null,"abstract":"Glacial outburst floods (jökulhlaups) have been a significant driver of landscape evolution, environmental change, and geohazards throughout the Quaternary. Iceland experiences more frequent jökulhlaups than nearly anywhere else on Earth, though most research focuses on subglacial volcanogenic floods that drain across outwash plains. Abundant geomorphologic evidence exists for largescale jökulhlaups that drained along the modern-day course of the Hvítá River in southwestern Iceland during early Holocene deglaciation, originating from ice-dammed Glacial Lake Kjölur; yet only one previous publication has investigated these events. This study uses a combination of field mapping and remote sensing to identify new jökulhlaup geomorphologic evidence along the Hvítá River, including erosional landforms such as scoured bedrock, anastomosing channel networks, cataracts, and canyons, and depositional features such as boulder bars and channel infill. We synthesize new findings with previously reported work to: 1) present an updated geomorphologic map of Hvítá jökulhlaup evidence; 2) reconstruct flood drainage routes, landscape impact, hydrology, and relative chronology; and 3) hypothesize scenarios of ice margin position and glacial lake evolution. Interpreting flood landform assemblages reveals a more extensive geomorphologic record than previously reported, with a complex drainage pattern along four separate routes from two potentially different sources. Reconstructed peak flow discharges span four orders of magnitude from 10**2 to 10**5 m3s-1. Geomorphologic and paleohydraulic results introduce four hypothesized drainage scenarios, though absolute geochronology is necessary to determine whether multiple floods drained along each route. The Hvítá jökulhlaups yield insight into the timing and dynamics of the final phase of Icelandic Ice Sheet decay, advancing understanding of Iceland’s Pleistocene–Holocene transition, demonstrating the importance of high magnitude, low frequency floods in landscape evolution, and serving as an analogue to ice and meltwater response to past, present, and future climate warming in glaciated regions worldwide.","PeriodicalId":56284,"journal":{"name":"Jokull","volume":"41 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90896405","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
JokullPub Date : 2022-01-01DOI: 10.33799/jokull2022.72.001
J. Wuite, Ludivine Libert, T. Nagler, T. Jóhannesson
{"title":"Continuous monitoring of ice dynamics in Iceland with Sentinel-1 satellite radar images","authors":"J. Wuite, Ludivine Libert, T. Nagler, T. Jóhannesson","doi":"10.33799/jokull2022.72.001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.33799/jokull2022.72.001","url":null,"abstract":"In recent years, satellite remote sensing has revolutionized observations of glacier dynamics enabling for the first time the generation of detailed ice-velocity fields at regular intervals for Icelandic glaciers. We generated dense time series of ice-velocity fields from 2014 to 2020 exploiting the continuous acquisition of Sentinel-1 SAR using the offset-tracking technique. The fastest ice flow, with velocities up to 400–800 metres per year, is observed in the middle and lower part of the main outlet glaciers of the ice caps that span a large elevation range in the areas of high precipitation in the South and Southeast of Iceland. Several outlet glaciers of Vatnajökull, such as Skeiðarárjökull and Breiðamerkurjökull, draining towards the South and Southeast, show high-ice-speed channels with pronounced shearing zones where the ice speed increases by an order of magnitude within a distance of only a few ice thicknesses. Velocities on the order of a few tens of metres per year, and up to 50–100 metres per year, are observed on the large surge-type outlet glaciers of N- and W-Vatnajökull and generally on glaciers in the central Icelandic highland and in the northern and western part of the country. Slow-moving ice is observed along the main ice divides and near the glacier margins. The velocity data set is affected by gaps due to decorrelation, particularly during summer, because of temporal variations in the radar-image texture. The ice-velocity fields derived in this study from Sentinel-1 data agree well with other data sets, although these are affected by a larger number of outliers and data gaps, particularly in the accumulation areas. The generated velocity time series can be used for monitoring long-term dynamic trends, seasonal variations and for studying glaciological events such as surges or jökulhlaups.","PeriodicalId":56284,"journal":{"name":"Jokull","volume":"26 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80156588","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
JokullPub Date : 2022-01-01DOI: 10.33799/jokull2022.72.021
S. Sayyadi, M. Gudmundsson, P. Einarsson
{"title":"Volcanic tremor associated with the Surtsey eruption of 1963–1967","authors":"S. Sayyadi, M. Gudmundsson, P. Einarsson","doi":"10.33799/jokull2022.72.021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.33799/jokull2022.72.021","url":null,"abstract":"The formation of the island of Surtsey over 3.5 years, remains one of the best-documented volcanic, island-forming eruptions to date. The basaltic submarine volcanic activity was detected on November 14, 1963, where ocean depth was 130 m prior to the eruption at the southern end of the Vestmannaeyjar archipelago. The eruptions occurred in several phases involving explosive and effusive activity, including the initial submarine phase on November 12–13, 1963. Separate phases of subaerial volcanic activity occurred during November 14, 1963–January 1964, January–April 1964, April 1964–May 1965, May–October 1965, December 1965–August 1966, and August 1966–June 1967. Seismic data quality from this period is inferior compared to that of modern monitoring systems. Four permanent seismic stations were operated in Iceland at the time, whereof only two, located at 115 and 140 km distance, had the sensitivity to record tremor from Surtsey. Nevertheless, the scanned analog seismograms (http://seismis.hi.is/) show that the eruptive activity was accompanied by considerable seismic activity, both earthquakes, and volcanic tremor. Earthquakes were primarily associated with changes in vent location. Both spasmodic and harmonic tremor was identified, both with low (<3 Hz) and higher (3–5 Hz) characteristic frequencies. The results indicate a complicated relationship between tremor and magma flow rate or style of activity. During the explosive eruption, the highest magma flow rates occurred in the first 10–20 days, a period with little observed tremor. The highest tremor is observed in December 1963–March 1964, after the discharge rates had dropped substantially, and on a timescale of hours-to-days, no clear relationship between tremor and eruption style is observed. The same applies to the effusive activity, where no seismic tremor was observed during most of the effusive eruption of Surtungur, despite the fact that magma flow rates were ~3 times higher than during later phases where some tremor was observed. Keywords: Submarine volcanism, eruption precursors, volcanic tremor, precursory tremor, continuous uprush eruptions","PeriodicalId":56284,"journal":{"name":"Jokull","volume":"8 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84569384","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
JokullPub Date : 2021-12-08DOI: 10.33799/jokull2020.70.001
H. Hannesdóttir, O. Sigurðsson, R. Þrastarson, S. Guðmundsson, J. M. Belart, F. Pálsson, E. Magnússon, S. Víkingsson, I. Kaldal, T. Jóhannesson
{"title":"A national glacier inventory and variations in glacier extent in Iceland from the Little Ice Age maximum to 2019","authors":"H. Hannesdóttir, O. Sigurðsson, R. Þrastarson, S. Guðmundsson, J. M. Belart, F. Pálsson, E. Magnússon, S. Víkingsson, I. Kaldal, T. Jóhannesson","doi":"10.33799/jokull2020.70.001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.33799/jokull2020.70.001","url":null,"abstract":"A national glacier outline inventory for several different times since the end of the Little Ice Age (LIA) in Iceland has been created with input from several research groups and institutions, and submitted to the GLIMS (Global Land Ice Measurements from Space, nsidc.org/glims) database, where it is openly available. The glacier outlines have been revised and updated for consistency and the most representative outline chosen. The maximum glacier extent during the LIA was not reached simultaneously in Iceland, but many glaciers started retreating from their outermost LIA moraines around 1890. The total area of glaciers in Iceland in 2019 was approximately 10,400 km2, and has decreased by more than 2200 km2 since the end of the 19th century (corresponding to an 18% loss in area) and by approximately 750 km2 since ~2000. The larger ice caps have lost 10–30% of their maximum LIA area, whereas intermediate-size glaciers have been reduced by up to 80%. During the first two decades of the 21st century, the decrease rate has on average been approximately 40 km2 a-1. During this period, some tens of small glaciers have disappeared entirely. Temporal glacier inventories are important for climate change studies, for calibration of glacier models, for studies of glacier surges and glacier dynamics, and they are essential for better understanding of the state of glaciers. Although surges, volcanic eruptions and jökulhlaups influence the position of some glacier termini, glacier variations have been rather synchronous in Iceland, largely following climatic variations since the end of the 19th century.","PeriodicalId":56284,"journal":{"name":"Jokull","volume":"49 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2021-12-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88351120","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
JokullPub Date : 2021-04-15DOI: 10.33799/JOKULL2020.70.073
Snaevarr Gudmundsson, H. Bjornsson
{"title":"Little Ice Age advance of Kvískerjajöklar, Öræfajökull, Iceland.\u0000A contribution to the assessment of glacier variations in Iceland\u0000since the late 18th century","authors":"Snaevarr Gudmundsson, H. Bjornsson","doi":"10.33799/JOKULL2020.70.073","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.33799/JOKULL2020.70.073","url":null,"abstract":"We describe the changes of the Kvískerjajöklar outlet glaciers in SE Iceland (presently ranging 600–1600 m a.s.l.), from their Little Ice Age maximum (LIAmax) to the present. We assume that glacier extent of the late 19th century approximately describes LIAmax although the glaciers already reached their peak extent in the 18th century. The former glacier margins were delineated from moraines, historical descriptions, topographical maps, aerial and oblique photographs, Landsat images and a lidar DEM. Along the previous glacier margins, elevation differences with respect to the lidar DEM of 2011 were estimated and contour maps of the glacier drawn at selected dates, maintaining the shape of the glacier surface as available maps. During the period 1890 to 2011, the outlets lost -0.4 m a-1 water equivalent evenly distributed over their surface and their area was reduced by 37% (from 10 km2 to 6.4 km2, 0.03 km2 a-1, 0.43 km3 water equivalent in total, i.e. 0.003 km3 w.e. a-1).","PeriodicalId":56284,"journal":{"name":"Jokull","volume":"70 1","pages":"73-85"},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2021-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86292408","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}