Jökulsá (Breiðamerkursandur)
| Jökulsá | |
|---|---|
Jökulsá near Jökulsárlón lake | |
| Location | |
| Country | Iceland |
| Region | Southern |
| Municipality | Hornafjörður |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | Jökulsárlón |
| • location | southern Vatnajökull National Park, Iceland |
| • coordinates | 64°02′48.8″N 16°10′53.7″W / 64.046889°N 16.181583°W |
| Mouth | Atlantic Ocean |
| Length | 0.5 km (0.31 mi) |
| Discharge | |
| • average | 250–300 m3/s (8,800–10,600 cu ft/s) |
Jökulsá (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈjœːkʏlsˌauː auː ˈpreiːðaˌmɛr̥kʏrˌsantɪ]) is a river in Southeast Iceland in Austur-Skaftafellssýsla (municipality) in the middle of Breiðamerkursandur, a glacial outwash plain.
It connects the Jökulsárlón glacier lake with the sea, the Atlantic Ocean. The river is very short, at the moment about 500 m. It was still 1,500 m long in 1989, but its length was 1,000 m around the year 1900, when it discharged directly from the Breiðamerkurjökull glacier; the lake did not start to form until 1935–40. The lake grew very fast from 1950 onwards, and changed the course of the river. The medium discharge today is 250–300 m³/s. From time to time, icebergs from the lake enter the river.
Erosion could with time break down the spits and connect the glacier lake directly with the sea, forming a fjord. The government fights the erosion by stabilising the shoreline of the sea and also of the river, not least in order to save the road.