Field excursion with climate change focus

This week GRÓ LRT fellows went on a three-day excursion to the south and southeast of Iceland. The focus was on climate change and its effects on ecosystems and societies. The fellows visited Visitor Centres of the Vatnajökull National Park and learned about the parks natural and cultural heritage. They walked up to the Skaftafellsjökull outlet glacier and observed how the glacier has retreated for last 100 years and how the rate of retreat and thinning has increased in the last decades.

The fellows met local experts who explained how glaciers can provide a window into past climate, how climate change is likely to increase volcanic activity of the volcanic systems under Vatnajökull glacier, and the danger of glacial floods following eruptions under icecaps. The fellows 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.