Vatnajökull National Park Iceland

Legendary

Vatnajökull is Europe's largest glacier outside the arctic.

Photo by Theo Crazzolara

Some of Iceland's most active volcanoes are hidden under a sheet of ice. When one erupts, it can melt huge amounts of ice in a hurry.

All that meltwater rushes out from under the glacier in a sudden flood. Icelanders have a special word for it: jökulhlaup, a glacier burst.

That ice sheet is Vatnajökull, the largest glacier in Europe outside the Arctic. It covers about 8,000 square kilometers, roughly the size of the island of Corsica.

In places, the ice is nearly a kilometer thick. Underneath it are mountains, valleys, and volcanoes, including Grímsvötn, Öræfajökull, and Bárðarbunga.

Iceland's highest peak pokes up through the ice too. Hvannadalshnúkur stands 2,110 meters above sea level, on the rim of the Öræfajökull volcano.

The national park was created on June 7, 2008. It joined together two older parks, Skaftafell and Jökulsárgljúfur, along with the glacier and the land around it.

Today the park covers about 14 percent of Iceland. It's the second-largest national park in Europe.

What makes it special is the way fire and ice work together. Volcanoes push up new land, while glaciers and rivers grind it down, carving canyons, waterfalls, and black sand plains.

That's why UNESCO named it a World Heritage Site on July 5, 2019. Its official title calls it a place of "dynamic nature of fire and ice."

The glacier is shrinking. Warmer temperatures are slowly melting it, and scientists study it closely to understand how climate change is affecting Iceland.

Visit Jökulsárlón, a lagoon where icebergs break off the glacier and drift toward the sea, then walk across the road to Diamond Beach, where chunks of ice sparkle on the black sand. Join a guided glacier hike at Skaftafell, with crampons strapped to your boots. Come between November and March to explore the blue ice caves that form inside the glacier each winter.

Sources: Vatnajökull National Park (official), Wikipedia, and Guide to Iceland.