Hofsjökull (Icelandic: "temple glacier", ) is the third largest ice cap in Iceland after Vatnajökull and Langjökull and covers the largest active central volcano in the country, which has the same name. It is situated in the west of the Highlands of Iceland and north of the mountain range Kerlingarfjöll, between the two largest glaciers of Iceland.

Glacier

It covers an area of 830 km2, with the icecap top being 1782 m, and bottom being at about 600 m. There are other summits relating to the underlying volcano with two being at 1765 m. Hofsjökull is the source of several rivers including the Þjórsá, Iceland's longest river.

Changes

While all ice caps in Iceland have been losing volume since 1995, due to high precipitation in 2015 and low ablation during the previous cool summer, the Hofsjökull ice cap increased in mass, the first time in 20 years this had happened. Between 1989 and 2015, even allowing for that last years increase, the icecap had lost about 12% of its 1989 volume which is close to 25 km3 of ice. Hofsjökull has been modelled to lose all its ice in about 200 years from studies using data between 1980 and 2005. Run off into the draining rivers is modelled to increase by about 50% by 2100 before decreasing due to diminishing area of the ice caps.

Volcano

The subglacial volcano is a central volcano with a caldera. Beyond the central volcano are fissure systems which include to the south the Kerlingarfjöll central volcano.

Sources