No, I am not talking about Game of Thrones (though a significant part of the GoT series was shot here). I am talking about Iceland. I do not think there could be a place that is more worthy of this title. I thought this is a great time to write a post on Iceland. Amongst all the natural phenomena out there, volcano eruptions always seems the most fascinating to me. Iceland has the most number of active volcanos on earth! Earlier this Monday, Mt. Fagradalsfjall started spewing lava and Icelandic officials had warned people to stay away from the volcano region since the eruption had begun.

For starters, if you are wondering where Iceland is located, check out the world map below. As you can see, it is a small island nation (green in the map) which happens to be Europe’s westernmost country. Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik (pronounced Rei-kya-vik), is the world’s northernmost capital, situated at a latitude of 64°08′ N.

Contrary to the popular belief that Iceland has nothing but ice, the country is actually quite green! We assume that it is under snow cover all year round, when
in fact, Iceland scapes are vividly coloured during summers and offers some of best visual treats in the world…though there is a distinct lack of trees in the country. (Ironically, Greenland unlike its name, is icier than Iceland).

Iceland is a geologically (relatively) young land,
through which passes the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which
divides the European and American continental
plates. The region is highly dynamic harbouring some
of the most active volcanoes on earth! It is home to
about a 100+ volcanic mountains, of which over 15
have erupted since in recent history. One incident
that most of us would be aware of is the recent
eruption of Eyjafjallajokull (pronounced aeya-fya-tlayo-ku-tl) volcano (1,666 meters), in 2010. The eruption resulted in a severe environmental disaster which led to tonnes of ash being blown high into the atmosphere, and disrupted European air traffic for weeks. Thousands of flights were cancelled or delayed over a period of one week due to this catastrophic event. It is said, that on an average, Iceland experiences major volcanic event once every 5 years.

Well endowed with natural resources like geothermal energy and hydropower, Iceland takes full advantage of its renewable assets. Almost 65% of Iceland’s primary energy consumption is taken care of by geothermal sources!

The hike that we did at Iceland (back in 2013) was one of the famous routes in the country known as the Landmannalaugar.

This route passes near the glacier cum volcanoes Eyjafjallajökull (the one that erupted in 2010) and Mýrdalsjökull (harbouring the volcano Katla). A volcano inside a glacier was no strange thing in Iceland.

The most mind boggling episode I have ever endured in my entire life was this- experiencing the complementary forces of ice and fire, simultaneously!

While my dream of actually witnessing a volcano erupt still remains unfulfilled, this is the closest I have been to any geothermal activity! So I will leave you with this image and….

… and this video. Click on the image below to view the video:

Nature Observations Photo Logs activevolcano camping earthlynotes ecotourism environment Fagradalsfjall geosprings geothermal geothermalarea geothermalenergy hikinginiceland iceland icelandic icelandnews icelandtourism icelandvolcano Landmannalaugar landoffireandice naturalgeosprings naturalphenomena naturalwonder naturelove natureobservation naturephotography naturewatch reykjanes theearthlynotes trekking trekkinginiceland volcano volcanoeruption