Climate change focus in field excursion

Last week the UNU-LRT fellows went on a three day excursion to the south and southeast of Iceland. The focus of the trip was on climate change and how it affects ecosystems and societies in the area. In the trip, the fellows got a good overview of how glaciers can tell us about past climate and be used as indicators of climate change. The Vatnajökull National Park was visited where the fellows walked up to the outlet glacier Skaftafellsjökull and observed how the glacier has retreated during the last century and how the rate of retreat has increased in the last decades.

The fellows learned from local experts how climate change is likely to increase volcanic activity of the many volcanos under the Vatnajökull glacier and about the danger of glacial floods following eruptions under icecaps. They learned about how sediments in glacial floodwaters have led to sandstorms and consequent destruction of vegetation and trouble for local inhabitants, and how restoration has curbed those challenges. 

The photo shows one of the UNU-LRT fellows, Ms Odonchimeg Binderiya from Mongolia, at the Skaftafell outlet glacier.