Retreat you can see
Markers show where the ice edge stood in earlier years.
Jerzystrzelecki — CC BY 3.0 · NOTE: This image is a panorama consisting of multiple frames that were merged or stitched in Panorama Studio. As a result, this image necessarily underwent some form of digital manipulation. These man — CC BY-SA 3.0 · NOTE: This image is a panorama consisting of multiple frames that were merged or stitched in Panorama Studio. As a result, this image necessarily underwent some form of digital manipulation. These man — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Jerzystrzelecki — CC BY 3.0
A glacier tongue reaching down from the Mýrdalsjökull ice cap towards the southern plain, and the most easily reached glacier in Iceland from the main road. That ease is why it is well known: a short side road off the Ring Road and then a walk of about twenty minutes brings you directly to the ice edge. Most glacier walking tours in southern Iceland therefore start here. What distinguishes it visually is its colour: the ice here is striped with black volcanic ash from eruptions of Katla and Eyjafjallajökull, so it looks grey and banded rather than white. The dark layers are a record of eruptions, each line one of them. The more important context is retreat. Sólheimajökull is among the clearest examples of glacial recession in Iceland: the tongue has pulled back hundreds of metres in recent decades and a lagoon has formed in front of it that did not exist before. Markers on site show where the edge stood in earlier years, and it is the clearest demonstration of warming you can see with your own eyes. Decisive practical points: do not go onto the ice without a guide and equipment. Do not approach the lagoon edge or climb on floating ice.
Markers show where the ice edge stood in earlier years.
Formed in front of the tongue as it withdrew; it did not exist before.
Ash from Katla and Eyjafjallajökull gives it its banded colour.
Between Skógar and Vík, the south road
Hundreds of metres in recent decades, and the rate has accelerated in recent years. The markers on site carry years and positions, and the distance between one and the next makes the retreat tangible in a way numbers do not. Iceland's glaciers lose mass annually, and some small ones have already gone — a memorial was raised to the Okjökull glacier in 2019 after it lost its status as a glacier.
If your budget allows, yes — walking on the glacier surface in crampons is an experience photographs do not convey, and you see the crevasses and meltwater channels close up. Tours start from the car park itself and run two to three hours with equipment included. Do not attempt it without a guide under any circumstances.
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