Geographic Variation of Cirques on Iceland: Factors Influencing Cirque Morphology

• Main Authors: Ipsen, Heather A., Grube, Rachael E., Lee, Jessica F., Principato, Sarah M.
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: unknown
• Published: The Cupola: Scholarship at Gettysburg College 2017
• Subjects: Cirques; Iceland; climate record; glaciers; ice caps; Climate; Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment; Environmental Studies; Andresen; Vestfirðir; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/esfac/92; https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1097&context=esfac

Cirques are one of the most common glacial landforms in alpine settings. They also provide important paleoclimate information (e.g. Meierding 1984; Evans 2006). The purpose of this study is to fill in gaps in the climate record of Iceland by conducting a quantitative analysis of cirques in three regions in Iceland: Tröllaskagi, the East Fjords, and Vestfirðir. Iceland, located in the center of the North Atlantic Ocean, contains many small glaciers, in addition to large ice caps. The glaciers on Iceland are particularly sensitive to variations in oceanic and atmospheric circulation (Andresen et al. 2005; Geirsdóttir et al., 2009; Ólafsdóttir et al. 2010). Iceland thus provides an excellent case study to examine factors influencing glacial landforms such as cirques. (excerpt)