Jökulsárlón

Jökulsárlón is a glacial lagoon at the snout of Breiðamerkurjökull, an outlet of Vatnajökull, and one of the highlights of an Iceland trip. It is a fixture on South Coast tours. I visited twice myself, staying for about four hours on my solo April trip and enjoying the evening light.

The next three photographs were also taken in August. Even the icebergs appeared hazy, and the photographs captured something of the quiet desolation of the far north.

I remember the person in the photograph on the left dipping a hand into the water, then making a gesture that seemed to say just how cold it was.

April brought much better weather. During the four hours or so I spent here, there were moments when the whole landscape was bathed in sunlight. The photographs that follow are from that visit.

The broad white expanse in the background is Breiðamerkurjökull, with icebergs scattered across Jökulsárlón in front of it. The mountains at the back on the right extend from Fellsfjall towards Veðurárdalsfjöll. I took this photograph from a hill on the western shore.

I moved between several parking areas that afternoon, but spent most of my time at the small one before the bridge, on the western side. A short walk over a hill that looked like a moraine brought me to a view I particularly liked. There were far fewer people here too, so I could take my time. The shore by the main parking lot had its advantages, though: more icebergs close at hand, and the sun setting straight ahead. Both sides had something to offer, so I kept going back and forth.

Justin Bieber’s music video was filmed here too. Getting into water this cold seems like madness to me, though.

This was taken just after sunset, from a hill on the western shore. The reflections on the water were beautiful.

I watched the sunset from the shore by the main parking lot, then went back to the western side. Icebergs close to the main shore hid much of the water from view. Perhaps the more open water on the western side would reflect the evening sky, I thought. It turned out to be exactly the right move.

Next came Diamond Beach. The Ring Road bridge spans the short river linking Jökulsárlón to the sea, with black sand beaches stretching along the coast beyond it.

The photographs here are from August. I had taken plenty in April too, but there were only a few small pieces of ice scattered across the black sand, most about the size of a palm. August brought poor weather, but much more impressive ice.

My wife caught me photographing it. With me in the frame, the scale becomes clear—some of those pieces were quite substantial!

Here is my “Diamond Ice Collection.”

Jökulsárlón lies at the foot of Breiðamerkurjökull. This glacier flows out from the vast Vatnajökull ice cap. Over time, it carved a deep trough into the land beneath it. As the glacier retreated, water filled the hollow it left behind, forming the lagoon. The trough is reportedly 200–300 meters deep and extends about 25 kilometers inland. The lagoon itself is much younger: it began to form in the 1930s and has continued to grow as the ice retreats.

Large blocks of ice break away from the glacier’s edge and fall into the lagoon, a process known as calving. The word comes from “calve,” meaning to give birth to a calf. Written in Japanese, though, “calving” looks just like “curving.” I initially wondered what was supposed to be bending!

The icebergs released by this process drift across the lagoon, giving it the distinctive appearance seen in these photographs.

A short river, Jökulsá á Breiðamerkursandi, connects the lagoon to the sea. Icebergs drift out through it, and waves wash pieces of ice back onto the shore. These become the “diamond ice” of Diamond Beach.

The connection works both ways. The tides also carry seawater into the lagoon, where it mixes with freshwater. Fish swim in from the sea, and seals follow them. A few seals have found their way into my photographs too.

The more I learned about this lagoon, the more I felt that its beauty was only part of the story. Ice, water, and wildlife all offered glimpses of nature at work.