Vatnojakull (Iceland) - October/November 1996 (eruption and flood)

	Late on the evening of 30 September 1996, an eruption started beneath the Vatnajokull glacier in central Iceland.

	The glacier was being melted by the heat from a 4km long fissure under the ice. By 14 October, the eruption was effectively over, but the trapped meltwater had raised the level of the GrimsvÓtn lake by some 100 m by the time it eventually broke out to the south, causing devastating floods in the Skeidarasandur region before draining into the Atlantic Ocean.

	This map shows the affected regions. The map was scanned from aeronautical maps of the area and shows elevations in feet - divide by three to get a rough equivalent in metres. The Vatnajokull glacier is the largest glacier in Iceland, covering more than 10,000 square km. The smaller rectangle marked on the map shows the approximate location of the volcanic event, and measures about 20 x 20 km.

Click inside the small rectangle for an account of the eruption. The larger rectangle shows the approximate location of the flooding, and measures about 60 x 70 km: click there to see an account of the floods.