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18-615: The Schmidt Ice Cap is an Arctic ice cap very near the limit of permanent sea ice , so as to be indistinguishable from the sea in winter, spring, and late fall. It covers almost all (~75-85%) of Schmidt Island , a Russian Arctic island above the 80th parallel north . The ice cap's maximum elevation is ~320 metres (1,050 ft), and it has a diameter of 25.31 kilometres (15.73 mi) along its longest axis. EF , with frigid winters and snowy, very cold summers. It may be warming due to climate change . Almost all precipitation occurs as snow , and November through April have never recorded

36-504: A 95 ± 29  mm rise in global sea levels until they reach equilibrium. However, environmental conditions have worsened and are predicted to continue to worsen in the future. Given that the rate of melting will accelerate, and by using mathematical models to predict future climate patterns, the actual contribution of ice caps to rising sea levels is expected to be more than double from initial estimates. High-latitude regions covered in ice, though strictly not an ice cap (since they exceed

54-578: A host of armed villains before escaping in a submarine to Alaska . Several other films, including another in the Bond franchise, have been filmed on or using Jökulsárlón , the terminal lake of the Breiðamerkurjökull outlet from Vatnajökull. In 2004, Vatnajökull was one of several Icelandic settings visited on the first leg of The Amazing Race 6 . Westlife's official music video for their twenty-fifth single top 10 and #2 UK hit in 2009 " What About Now "

72-684: A part of the Vatnajökull National Park . The average thickness of the ice is 380 m (1,250 ft), with a maximum thickness of 950 m (3,120 ft). Iceland 's highest peak, Hvannadalshnúkur (2,109.6 m or 6,921 ft 3 in), as part of the Öræfajökull , is in the southern periphery of Vatnajökull, near Skaftafell . Hrútsfjallstindar is a series of Icelandic peaks rising from Vatnajökull between Svínafellsjökull and Skaftafellsjökull , in its southern part. There are four peaks, which range from 1,756 metres (5,761 ft) to 1,875 metres (6,152 ft) high. Under

90-513: A temperature high enough to melt snow. Though the yearly mean maximum is 5 °C (41 °F), the ice cap (not the tundra on the outskirts of the island) is sufficiently cold that enough snow persists through the summer to support glaciation. Ice cap Ice caps are not constrained by topographical features (i.e., they will lie over the top of mountains). By contrast, ice masses of similar size that are constrained by topographical features are known as ice fields . The dome of an ice cap

108-561: A volcanic eruption started in Grímsvötn in Vatnajökull National Park at around 19:00. The plume reached up to 17 km (56,000 ft). An Icelandic older name for Vatnajökull was Klofajökull [ˈkʰlɔːvaˌjœːkʏtl̥] , which is known from eighteenth-century sources such as the writings of Eggert Ólafsson and Bjarni Pálsson. In September 1950, a Douglas DC-4 operated by the private airline Loftleiðir crash-landed on

126-607: Is Biscayarfonna in Svalbard . Hypothetical runaway greenhouse state Tropical temperatures may reach poles Global climate during an ice age Earth's surface entirely or nearly frozen over Vatnaj%C3%B6kull 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

144-669: Is determined by the landscape it lies on, as melting patterns can vary with terrain. For example, the lower portions of an ice cap are forced to flow outwards under the weight of the entire ice cap and will follow the downward slopes of the land. Ice caps have been used as indicators of global warming, as increasing temperatures cause ice caps to melt and lose mass faster than they accumulate mass. Ice cap size can be monitored through different remote-sensing methods such as aircraft and satellite data. Ice caps accumulate snow on their upper surfaces, and ablate snow on their lower surfaces. An ice cap in equilibrium accumulates and ablates snow at

162-495: Is the last film of Vatnajökull Glacier before the subsequent volcanic eruption. In November 2011, the glacier was used as a shooting location for the second season of the HBO fantasy TV series Game of Thrones . Vatnajökull has around 30 outlet glaciers flowing from the ice cap. The Icelandic term for glacier is "jökull", and so is the term for outlet glacier. Given below is a list of outlet glaciers flowing from Vatnajökull, sorted by

180-641: Is usually centred on the highest point of a massif . Ice flows away from this high point (the ice divide ) towards the ice cap's periphery. Ice caps significantly affect the geomorphology of the area they occupy. Plastic moulding, gouging and other glacial erosional features become present upon the glacier's retreat. Many lakes, such as the Great Lakes in North America, as well as numerous valleys have been formed by glacial action over hundreds of thousands of years. The Antarctic and Greenland contain 99% of

198-530: The Vatnajökull glacier. The entire six-person crew survived. A rescue operation was launched after the crew managed to send a distress signal on the fourth day. The crew and the rescue team walked the 34 km to safety. The glacier was used as the setting for the opening sequence (set in Siberia ) of the 1985 James Bond film A View to a Kill , in which Bond (played for the last time by Roger Moore ) eliminated

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216-428: The ice cap, as under many of the glaciers of Iceland, there are several volcanoes . Eruptions from these volcanoes have led to the development of large pockets of water beneath the ice, which may burst the weakened ice and cause a jökulhlaup ( glacial lake outburst flood ). During the last ice age , numerous volcanic eruptions occurred under Vatnajökull, creating many subglacial eruptions . In more modern times,

234-440: The ice volume on earth, about 33 million cubic kilometres (7.9 million cubic miles) of total ice mass. Ice caps are formed when snow is deposited during the cold season and fails to completely melt during the hot season. Over time, the snow builds up and becomes dense, well-bonded snow known as perennial firn . Finally, the air passages between snow particles close off and transforms into ice. The shape of an ice cap

252-458: The long term, the AAR of glaciers has been about 0.57. In contrast, data from the most recent years of 1997–2006 yields an AAR of only 0.44. In other words, glaciers and ice caps are accumulating less snow and are out of equilibrium, causing melting and contributing to sea level rises. Assuming the climate continues to be in the same state as it was in 2006, it is estimated that ice caps will contribute

270-407: The maximum area specified in the definition above), are called polar ice caps ; the usage of this designation is widespread in the mass media and arguably recognized by experts. Vatnajökull is an example of an ice cap in Iceland . Plateau glaciers are glaciers that overlie a generally flat highland area. Usually, the ice overflows as hanging glaciers in the lower parts of the edges. An example

288-423: 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. Depending on their shape and mass, healthy glaciers in equilibrium typically have an AAR of approximately 0.4 to 0.8. The AAR is impacted by environmental conditions such as temperature and precipitation. Data from 86 mountain glaciers and ice caps shows that over

306-611: The second largest in area in Europe after the Severny Island ice cap of Novaya Zemlya . It is in the south-east of the island, covering approximately 10% of the country. With an area of 7,700 km , Vatnajökull is the second largest ice cap in Europe by volume (about 3,000 km ) and area (after the still larger Severny Island ice cap of Novaya Zemlya , Russia, which is in the extreme northeast of Europe). On 7 June 2008, it became

324-445: The volcanoes continue to erupt beneath the glaciers, resulting in many documented floods. One jökulhlaup in 1934 caused the release of 15 km ( 3 + 1 ⁄ 2  cu mi) of water over the course of several days. The volcanic lake Grímsvötn was the source of a large jökulhlaup in 1996. There was also a considerable but short-lived eruption of the volcano under these lakes at the beginning of November 2004. On 21 May 2011

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