Okjökull
| Okjökull | |
|---|---|
Okjökull in September 2003. Photo: Oddur Sigurðsson | |
Interactive map of Okjökull | |
| Type | Glacier |
| Location | Iceland |
| Coordinates | 64°35′53″N 20°52′52″W / 64.598°N 20.881°W |
| Thickness | less than 50 m (160 ft) |
| Status | Former glacier |
Okjökull (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈɔkˌjœːkʏtl̥], Ok glacier) was a glacier in western Iceland on top of the shield volcano Ok.
Ok is located north-east of Reykjavík. The glacier was declared dead in 2014 by glaciologist Oddur Sigurðsson due to its loss of thickness. Ice crystals in glaciers collapse under their own weight to form solid ice capable of movement due to central gravitational pressure only when the ice is around 40 to 50 metres thick. By 2017 its thickness no longer met this criterion. Its surface area had declined from15 km2 (5.8 sq mi) size at the start of the twentieth century to about 0.7 km2 (0.27 sq mi) in 2015.