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Iceland as seen from space, with Vatnajökull appearing as the largest white area to the lower right. Vatnajökull (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈvahtnaˌjœːkʏtl̥] ⓘ, literally "Glacier of Lakes"; sometimes translated as Vatna Glacier in English) is the largest and most voluminous ice cap in Iceland, and the second largest in area in Europe after the Severny Island ice cap of Novaya Zemlya ...
Ice caps can be round, circular, or irregular in shape. [5] Ice caps often gradually merge into ice sheets making them difficult to track and document. [5] Examples include: Jostedal Glacier, Norway; Devon Ice Cap, Canada; Barnes Ice Cap, Canada; Vatnajökull, Iceland; Flade Isblink, Greenland
Ice caps accumulate snow on their upper surfaces, and ablate snow on their lower surfaces. [6] An ice cap in equilibrium accumulates and ablates snow at the same rate. The AAR is the ratio between the accumulation area and the total area of the ice cap, which is used to indicate the health of the glacier. [6]
Austfonna is an ice cap located on Nordaustlandet in the Svalbard archipelago in Norway. Covering an area of 7,800 km 2, [1] it is Europe's third-largest glacier by area and volume, after the Severny Island ice cap of Novaya Zemlya, Russia, and Vatnajökull in Iceland. [2] The combined area of Austfonna and the Vegafonna ice cap is 8,492 km 2. [3]
An ice cap is a mass of glacial ice that covers less than 50,000 km 2 (19,000 sq mi) of land area covering a highland area and they feed outlet glaciers. [4]: 52 Many Icelandic ice caps and glaciers lie above volcanoes, such as Grímsvötn and Bárðarbunga, which lie under the largest ice cap, Vatnajökull.
The ice cap was mapped during the 1952–54 British North Greenland expedition led by Commander James Simpson. It was named in honor of the Royal Air Force in order to commemorate the air transport supplied to the expedition. The name "Adastra Ice Cap" had been suggested by Brian Roberts, but finally "Ad Astra Ice Cap" became the approved name. [2]
Langjökull (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈlauŋkˌjœːkʏtl̥] ⓘ, Icelandic for "long glacier") is the second largest ice cap in Iceland (870 km 2 (340 sq mi)), [1] after Vatnajökull. It is situated in the west of the Icelandic interior or Highlands of Iceland and can be seen clearly from Haukadalur .
The ice cap is located south of Amundsen Land and the Nordpasset, at the western end of the De Long Fjord area, east of Freuchen Land across the inner J.P. Koch Fjord, west of Odin Fjord and south of the O.B. Bøggild Fjord. [9]