On the Expedition

Help uncover the secrets of geology and climate change hidden within Iceland’s glaciers.

Working in landscapes of almost unearthly beauty, you’ll rotate through various tasks depending on which field sites your team is working on at either the Skeiðarárjökull or Sólheimajökull glacial outwash plains. You’ll sample and measure sediments and glacial ice and document their size and type to help scientists understand how glaciers move, how they respond to geological events like volcanic eruptions, and the evolution of the Icelandic landscape. You’ll also help improve our understanding about the impacts of climate-driven glacier recession on a large-scale meltwater system. You’ll learn to survey places that most people only see in photographs, and may use satellite global positioning systems, ground penetrating radar, and electronic distance measurers.

In your recreational time, Teams 1 and 2 will enjoy hikes to yet more spectacular views of Iceland’s stunning glaciers and mountains. Team 3 at the new location of Vik,  investigates an area of glacial retreat only uncovered in last 2-3 years, but under immediate threat - these glaciers won’t be around for long, It has many attractions including spectacular landscapes of towering cliffs, beaches, and it is the place to view puffin colonies. Post-project you may have the opportunity to see geisers, waterfalls and an ‘Iceberg lagoon’ where some scenes for a Bond movie were shot.

Meals and Accommodations

Volunteers on teams working at Skeiðarárjökull field sites will be staying at Hvoll Youth Hostel, located 270km from Reykjavík, 25km east of Kirkjubærklaustur, and 45 km west of Skaftafell. You’ll stay in a house which is part of the youth hostel facility but which will allow the Earthwatch team to be self-contained for sleeping, cooking, and evening recreational activities. Hvoll is approximately a 40 minute drive from the field sites at Skeiðarárjökull.

You’ll share a single sex bunk-bed room with up to 5 other Earthwatch volunteers, and will need to bring your own sleeping bag. A shower and flush toilet are available within the house and additional shower and toilet facilities are available in the main hostel, as is laundry.

Volunteers on teams working at Sólheimajökull field sites will stay at Vík Youth Hostel, located 140 km from Reykjavík. Vík is approximately 30 minutes drive from our field sites at Sólheimajökull.

You’ll share a single sex bunk-bed room with up to 5 others and will need to bring your own sleeping bag. Showers and flush toilet are available within Vik Youth Hostel, which also has free wireless Internet access.

About the Research Area

Skeiðarárjökull field sites--Vatnajökull, Southeast Iceland
Skeiðarárjökull is one of the largest glaciers of the Vatnajökull ice cap, descending from high uplands to a 25 km wide plain where it ends, and part of the Skaftafell National Park. Beyond the glacier is its outwash plain, Skeiðarársandur, which extends 20 kilometers further to the coast.

On the Skeiðarársandur plain, an average of five large jökulhlaups (volcanic eruptions) occur per century, the last one in 1996. This event provided the first opportunity to witness the immediate impact of a high-magnitude jökulhlaup in Iceland. Earthwatch volunteers are crucial to the success of this project, which requires intensive field data collection. Volunteers will be fully integrated into the research and will work on a variety of tasks. Teams at this location will focus on specific field sites along the margins of Skeiðarárjökull and neighboring glaciers.

The area around Skaftafell is a remarkable oasis of greenery surrounded by the flat, grey Skeiðarársandur glacier and the tongues of Skeiðarárjökull (where Earthwatch volunteers will do research), Skaftafellsjökull, and Svínafellsjökull. The area’s great natural beauty makes it one of the most popular and well-visited regions of Iceland---it receives more than 25,000 campers and visitors during the summer months and at least as many pass through on trips around the island.

Sólheimajökull field sites--Mýrdalsjökull, Southern Iceland
Volunteers working in this region will be in close proximity to the Katla volcanic system, which lies under the center of Mýrdalsjökull ice cap. Subglacial eruptions here swiftly melt large volumes of ice producing some of the largest floods in Iceland. The last major Katla eruption, in 1918, released a huge jökulhlaup on Mýrdalssandur with an estimated peak discharge at least ten times larger than the November 1996 jökulhlaup at Skeiðarárjökull.