Landsat-8 satellite takes us over
Iceland’s southeastern coast and the Vatnajökull glacier I in this false-colour image from 6 September 2014.
Copyright: USGS/ESA
Glaciers cover 11% of Iceland’s landscape, the largest being the Vatnajökull, which at 8000 sq km is also the largest in Europe. Up to a kilometre thick, the Vatna ice cap has about 30 outlet glaciers.
A number of volcanoes lie underneath this ice cap, including the infamous GrÃmsvötn, which caused disruption of northern European air traffic in recent years following eruptions and the spread of ash plumes. This volcano is visible as a black arc on the central-left side of the image.
