Arctic Sea Ice Creeping Its Way Towards Iceland

Sea ice from Greenland is extending its icy claws further south than usual, and has almost reached the Westfjords.

The University of Iceland’s group on volcanoes and natural disasters emphasise in their post on the matter that the creeping ice is more due to winds than an accumulation of ice, but sea ice from southeast Greenland is nonetheless making its way towards the northern tip of the Westfjords.

The ice has been moving at an astonishing ten nautical miles per day, and is expected to move even closer in the days to come.

Sea ice is very unusual anywhere around Iceland, but not entirely unheard of. In fact, a common legend states that original settlers gave the country its name on account of a large amount of sea ice around the country at that time.

Climate change has actually reduced sea ice in the polar regions, and significantly at that. This latest event will likely not cause some kind of HMS Terror situation, but to be on the safe side, avoid embarking on any bold but ultimately foolhardy voyages by wooden ship through the passage for now.