Sunday, July 9, 2023

A Spot in Iceland- Before and After

Hi everyone. I hope you've had or are having a great weekend. My husband brought home a head cold which I now have, so I can’t say I’ve had a lot of energy the past few days. 

I hope you are not getting sick of Iceland photos since I feel like I've been showing so many of them lately. And I still haven't (more or less) even finished photos from the first few days of the trip. Smile.๐Ÿ˜
I'm also going to link up to Gillena's Sunday Lunch Break (Sunday Smiles).

On our first full day in Iceland last month, when we were driving along the south side of the island, I went back to see what had been one of my favorite places from when I visited Iceland with friends in 2016.  On that 2016 trip, this was farthest on the south side of the ring road we had travelled. 

These first 2 photos show a couple of views from my 2016 trip. We had driven off the Ring Road and parked. Then we followed a short trail that you can see in the photo below.


You can see the trail and a glacier right behind it. When you arrived where those 2 people in the above photo are standing, this is what you saw.


Notice we could walk up almost right to the glacier itself. There was just this banking of rocks between us and the glacier.

On my  recent trip when we drove past what had been that road into the glacier, I noticed it was gated and closed. A little further past the old road there was a new road, so we turned onto that road and drove in. This time the parking lot was a little further away from the glacier  because it took a more round about direction. We parked and took the walk in.


And here is that same glacier now.  The area where the old path was (as shown in my first 2016 photo) is now underwater. Instead of a bank of rocks, there is a pond between us and the glacier.

In this next photo, you see more of that glacial melt pond. I'm adding it to my post because in 2016, I would have been walking on the trail where this pond now is. The first photo in this post shows the path that is now under the water.


Here I am in 2023, standing on top of a little hill further away from the glacier itself. This is the closest we could get to the glacier in 2023. I'm definitely not as near to the foot of the glacier as I had been 6 years ago.


And the glacial pond is now bigger, covering more area. Here is the other end of this  pond in 2023 with a bit of the glacier behind it.



And here is that same glacial melt pond in July of 2016.


I know glacial calving doesn't really get started in Iceland until June, and it was still May when I revisited this spot, but there was a lot more ice in this glacier melt pond in 2017. 

I imagine if I returned in another 7 years this glacial pond would be even bigger. And if you don't think the environment is warming and changing, then maybe you'll have some other way to explain these photos.

And lastly, here's the hubby's photo at  the glacier.


I think he looks like he's standing in front of a faked photographic background, doesn't it? Smile.

Have a super weekend. I hope you enjoy it.









 

15 comments:

Tom said...

...a beautiful, but disturbing spot!

kathyinozarks said...

Beautiful photos. my opinion is still that our planet evolves over time-it has done so since the very beginning-part of nature and life

Mae Travels said...

I love your photos of Iceland. I'm reading the latest police novel in the series Forbidden Iceland, which was just published.

Your photos of the glacier then-and-now are quite dramatic. They are among many overwhelming signs that demonstrate that our planet is warming! But there sure are some ignorant and pig-headed climate deniers out there. I don't think they are interested in anything rational. As you say: "if you don't think the environment is warming and changing, then maybe you'll have some other way to explain these photos."

best, mae at maefood.blogspot.com

Anne (cornucopia) said...

Great photos. Several powerful earthquakes shifted the Earth axis, but I haven't seen any scientists address how that affects climate. Our seasons are due to the Earth's tilt, and not its proximity to the sun, so if that tilt (axis) changed, I'd like to hear scientists tell us what effect that had on the entire planet.

Christine said...

Thanks for sharing these photos.

David M. Gascoigne, said...

You have seen this from a unique perspective, Erika, having seen this from the same vantage point at different times. The scientific evidence that anthropogenic warming is causing this catastrophic change of events, at a pace that almost defies belief, is overwhelming. Thanks for the series on Iceland. Please show us more! Hugs - David

Liz Hinds said...

The speed at which it is changing is frightening. I know we've experienced lots of meteorological changes over the millennia but it's the speed of this, and man's part in it, that is so scary .

Gillena Cox said...

Get well soon you and your husband.
Thanks gor linking up to Sunday Smiles today.

Much๐Ÿ’œlove

J C said...

Nope. Not tired of Iceland pictures. It looks a bit desolate, but every time I see more, I think of how long ... how many centuries it took... to form these amazing cliffs, every crevice and line, and I wonder how long and hard the wind blows across this landscape.

Angie's Recipes said...

Same spot, but looks very different. Thanks for taking time to sort them out and sharing them, Erika.

Valerie-Jael said...

The environmental changes are very much there, the world is heating up und there will be more and more catastrophes. I can't understand that some people refuse to accept what is happening right in front of their noses. Keep sending Iceland photos, I LOVE them. Hugs, Valerie

ashok said...

Great pictures...very interesting

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

You have provided us with evidence of global warming. That is so scary. And I will never get enough photos of Iceland.

Get well soon, dear. That goes for your husband, too.

Muhammad Teddy Wijaya said...

Wow, the condition of the glacier is very different from 2016 to 2023.

Global warming is really concerning, Thank you for sharing. Greetings from Indonesian Bloggers ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ‘

Jeanie said...

Oh my! That's a significant change in not too long a time. You are spot on about the climate change. It's becoming horrifying...