Ice Cave In Skaftafell, Iceland
Ice caves are temporary structures that appear at the edge of
glaciers. They look amazingly beautiful from the inside. This particular
cave is located on the frozen lagoon of the Svínafellsjökull glacier in
Skaftafell, Iceland. The centuries old ice coming down the slopes of
Öræfajökull via Svínafellsjökull glacier has metamorphosed into highly
pressurized glacier ice that contains almost no air bubbles. The lack of
air means that it absorbs almost all visible light, apart from the blue
fraction which is then visible to the naked eye. However, this blue ice
can be seen only under certain circumstances. It can be seen in winter
after long periods of rain when the surface layer of the glacier has
been washed away. It can be seen in ice-caves like this one and on floating icebergs that have recently rolled over.
This
cave in the glacier ice is the result of glacial mill, or Moulin where
rain and melt water on the glacier surface are channeled into streams
that enter the glacier at crevices. The waterfall melts a hole into the
glacier while the ponded water drains towards lower elevations by
forming long ice caves with an outlet at the terminus of the glacier.
The fine grained sediments in the water along with wind blown sediments
cause the frozen meltwater stream to appear in a muddy colour while the
top of the cave exhibits the deep blue colour. Due to the fast movement
of the glacier of about 1 m per day over uneven terrain, this ice cave
cracked up at its end into a deep vertical crevice, called cerrac. This
causes the indirect daylight to enter the ice cave from both ends
resulting in homogeneous lighting of the ice tunnel.
The
cave is accessible through a 22-foot entrance on the shoreline. At the
end it tapers to a tight squeeze no more than four feet high. Ice caves
are in general unstable things and can collapse at any time. They are
safe to enter only in winter when the cold temperatures harden the ice.
Even so one could hear constant cracking sounds inside the cave. It was
not because it was going to collapse but because the cave was moving
along with the glacier itself. Each time the glacier moved a millimeter
loud sounds could be heard.
These beautiful pictures were taken by 35-year old photographer Orvar Thorgeirsson.
