A jökulhlaup is a type of glacial outburst flood. It is an Icelandic term that has been adopted in glaciological terminology in many languages.
It originally referred to the well-known subglacial outburst floods from Vatnajökull, Iceland, which are triggered by geothermal heating and occasionally by a volcanic subglacial eruption, but it is now used to describe any large and abrupt release of water from a subglacial or proglacial lake/reservoir.
A jökulhlaup
The impounded lake a month earlier, before the same jökulhlaup
A former bridge at Skaftafell, Iceland, twisted by the jökulhlaup from Grímsvötn's 1996 eruption of Gjálp.
Jökulhlaup landforms in the world
Vatnajökull is the largest and most voluminous ice cap in Iceland, and the second largest in area in Europe after the Severny Island ice cap of Novaya Zemlya. It is in the south-east of the island, covering approximately 10% of the country.
Vatnajökull, Iceland
Ice lagoon at the foot of the Vatnajökull Glacier
Vatnajökull Glacier in Iceland
An iceberg with Öræfajökull (southernmost part of Vatnajökull) in the background. The icebergs in Jökulsárlón, as well as this one, have broken off Vatnajökull's outlet glaciers.
