Iceland

The Geothermal Coziness of the Ice Island


water through the air
Strokkur geyser, in the geothermal valley of Haukaladur with regular eruptions in less than 10 minutes.
Eve and Guthrun
Two sellers of natural skin substances in action at Grindavik Blue Lagoon.
from the depths
Scorching water from the bowels of the Earth, about to gush out from 15, 20 meters or more in height.
Hellisheidi Plateau
Complementary infrastructure of the Hellisheidi geothermal power plant - the largest in the world - camouflaged in the dappled backdrop of the homonymous plateau.
Volcanism & Geothermics
Melting snow on a winter-cold dry meadow in the vicinity of the crater of the Hverjall volcano in Myvatn National Park.
The biggest of the biggest
The Hellisheidi geothermal plant, the most powerful in the world, with a production capacity of 303 MW of electricity and 400 MW of hot water.
mini pond
A small pond in the rocky surroundings of the Blue Lagoon, with the Svartsengi geothermal plant in the background.
boilers or so
Components of the Hellisheidi geothermal - the largest in the world.
pure delight
Goers to the Grindavik Blue Lagoon entertained with the various bathing and geothermal attractions of the place.
in geothermal trouble
Bathers confused in a rocky corner of Lagoa Azul.
geysers and mountains
Fluttering steam identifies the presence of geysers in the vicinity of Lake Myvatn.
A day at the Blue Lagoon
Bathers relax in the warm water of the Grindavik Blue Lagoon, one of Iceland's many geothermal lagoons.
Most visitors value Iceland's volcanic scenery for its beauty. Icelanders also draw from them heat and energy crucial to the life they lead to the Arctic gates.

we approach midnight.

As we climb into direction to the lake highlands Myvatn, we scanned the rearview mirror. We notice that the clouds open. That unveil a sky of various fiery shades that spreads to the ocean Áarctic e à frigid surface of the northern coast of Iceland.

The boreal eccentricity of that sunset invites us to pull over à icy verge. We enjoy its unfolding for a few minutes, until the freezing wind takes us to the illusion of thermal comfort imposed by the undoing of the great star.

We take what we take. Soon, we return to the warm haven of the car.

For a short time. A few kilometers ahead, a new incandescent vision amazes us, this time parallelepiped, even more resplendent in the near night it had settled.

We investigated that UFO perched with the care it deserved, not least because a slippery slope and a clearing dotted with holes covered by snow separated it from the side of the road.

A resplendent agriculture

Geothermal greenhouse in a snowy setting between Husavik and Myvatn.

Iceland's Something Extraterrestrial Greenhouses

A few meters from the tarnished glass casing, we notice 100% vegetable content. We confirmed what had already occurred to us: it was an Icelandic greenhouse.

The sun, which in that wintry spring still resisted almost eighteen hours above the horizon, arrived with rays so insipid that they did little to stimulate our skin and senses.

We were about to enter Iceland's gentle months. We calculated that the climate of your antipodes months was much harsher.

And yet, except for the tiniest length of daylight, for most of the year, almost arctic Iceland is even favored.

Iceland's Still Generous Sub-Arctic Climate

Two ocean currents, the North Atlantic and the Irminger, surround it.

They keep the surrounding ocean free of ice and soften winter temperatures that would otherwise be far more extreme than the normal 0°C average in the southern coastal lowlands and -10°C in the interior highlands.

Geothermal, Iceland Heat, Ice Land, Geothermal, Geysers and Mountains

Fluttering steam identifies the presence of geysers in the vicinity of Lake Myvatn.

In a localized dimension, the intense volcanic activity contributes to heat and preserve vast areas of the island less frozen.

This is the case with volcanoes, fumaroles and geysers around Lake Myvatn, which we would soon explore.

Over time, Icelanders have learned like no other people to live with its delicate geology.

And to manipulate the concentration of volcanoes in favor of geothermal energy generation, heating and some electricity production.

High voltage

Electric cables on a plain on the south coast of Iceland. A significant part of the country's energy (including electricity) comes from geothermal origin.

Iceland's Geothermal Proficiency

There are five large geothermal power plants that produce a quarter of Iceland's energy.

Almost 90% of the country's buildings are equipped with geothermal heating and hot water.

Bearing in mind that 75% of the country's electricity comes from water, it is clear that Icelanders are confident that their nation no longer depends on fossil fuels and as little as possible on all types of imports.

Later, we would come to realize that the eccentric greenhouse we had been examining was just one of many, kept warm from the depths of the island.

It was part of that ambitious sustainability plan.

mini pond

A small pond in the rocky surroundings of the Blue Lagoon, with the Svartsengi geothermal plant in the background.

Greenhouse Vegetal Production that Barely Brings Down Prices

Due to the short spring-summer period, only the most cold-resistant tubers and vegetables, such as potatoes, turnips, carrots, and cabbage, can be grown outdoors.

Greenhouses like those were increasing in number before the eyes in strategic places in the country. They made it possible to generate, in less and less limited quantities, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, flowers, plants and even bananas, grapes and another tropical delicacy.

As we could suffer on our skin, greenhouse production still did little to change the price of Iceland's insular and northern isolation:

“It's 3500, or 3700 or 4000 crowns (24, 25 or 27€)” the cashiers of the supermarkets where we stocked up politely informed us as we went around the island.

"Do you pay in cash or by card?" Each time we heard the total, that was the question that we were least concerned about.

Invariably, we would look at the basket and try to figure out if we had mistakenly placed something in it or if we had made an exaggeration. But not. Only the little we wanted was confirmed.

We filled the bag, turned our backs. We continued our journey resigned and always excited by the hot and cold geological magnificence of those places.

Fumaroles, Geysers and Other Geothermal Sources

After going around the island, we settled in Reykjavik. From the capital, we set out on strategic incursions to the unmissable areas around.

In one of them, we stopped in the valley of Haukaladur. There are three other valleys of the same name in Iceland. Only this one hosts a vast geothermal area that the Viking colonists reported in 1294, which had been formed a short time before, by seismic action.

In fact, earthquakes continue to activate and deactivate these sources, as happened alternately in July 2000.

from the depths

Scorching water from the bowels of the Earth, about to gush out from 15, 20 meters or more in height.

We read in advance that these were two of the most famous geysers in the valley, the Strokkur and another, the Geysir (a term derived from the Old Norse verb geysa for gush).

The Geysir proved to be the first geyser known to modern Europeans, described in a printed work and eventually adapted as the worldwide nomenclature of the phenomenon.

Well, we soon realized that he was as famous as he was capricious. As a rule, it only broke out on four or five solemn occasions a day. We did not hesitate, therefore, in dedicating ourselves to the most sociable Strokkur.

We've seen it sprout five or six times in less than an hour, more than 20 meters high, and we've even been baptized by the spray of its scalding, sulphurous water.

water through the air

Strokkur geyser, in the geothermal valley of Haukaladur with regular eruptions in less than 10 minutes.

At the end of that afternoon, we were returning to the capital.

We are surprised by the mottled scenery of the Hellisheidi plateau, snowy but not too much, colored by patches of brown volcanic soil that the new late sunset turned to ocher.

Hellisheidi Plateau

Complementary infrastructure of the Hellisheidi geothermal power plant – the largest in the world – camouflaged in the dappled backdrop of the homonymous plateau.

We lead to one of the highest points of this plateau.

From there, we can appreciate how twilight seizes the homonymous geothermal power station – the largest in the world –, located next to the Hengill volcano. And how it gave rise to a new extraterrestrial panorama.

Geothermy, Iceland Heat, Iceland, Geothermal, Central Hellisheidi

The Hellisheidi geothermal plant, the most powerful in the world, with a production capacity of 303 MW of electricity and 400 MW of hot water.

Neither geothermics nor Icelandic quasi science fiction would stop there.

“If you don't like the weather in Iceland, wait just a minute,” professes one of the nation's most popular sayings.

The Amornado Delight of Lagoa Azul and the Svartsengi Geothermal Station

But many more hours had already passed than we were willing to concede. One of the island's attractions that could best compensate for the bad weather was still at our disposal.

We dedicate the entire following morning to you.

We pass through the sophisticated portal of its reception and go up to the panoramic terrace.

From that summit, we were amazed by the surreal sight of hundreds of bathers in pure delight, subsumed in the water of Bláa Lonid, the blue lagoon of Grindavik.

Gone in the mist

Grindavik Blue Lagoon bathers lost in the steam generated by the temperature difference between the thermal water and the boreal atmosphere.

In the distance, at the opposite end of the lagoon, isolated by abrasive lava slabs, we glimpse Iceland's fourth largest geothermal station, that of Svartsengi.

In full operation, the chimneys of this plant released clouds of steam that joined the celestial ones.

Panoramic view of Grindavik Blue Lagoon with Svartsengi Geothermal Power Station (4th largest in Iceland) in the background.

We went down to the changing rooms and joined an international and amphibious crowd.

The water temperature fluctuates depending on the distance from the sources that release it.

Normally it's perfect, but every now and then some boilers overheat certain sections.

We still laughed heartily with the stampede of a group of ladies, afflicted with an imaginary cooking.

in geothermal trouble

Bathers confused in a rocky corner of Lagoa Azul.

Despite the water barely above the waist, two lifeguards are limited to having fun with the situation, recurrent and not very worrying.

Eva and Guthrun, representatives of the lake, also wearing clay or similar face masks and equipped with trays with cups, approach the bathers.

They convince us to test substances that can beautify any skin.

"Try this one!" they make us uneasy. It's a kind of natural Icelandic botox!”

Eve and Guthrun

Two sellers of natural skin substances in action at Grindavik Blue Lagoon.

Meanwhile, a thunderous volley expels us, the young sellers and the other bathing customers from the volcanic broth.

The storm proves not to last.

A tiny hail was still falling when the first Icelanders began to return to their famous geothermal cuddle.

Geothermal, Iceland Heat, Ice Land, Geothermal, Blue Lagoon

Bathers relax in the warm water of the Grindavik Blue Lagoon, one of Iceland's many geothermal lagoons.

Jökursarlón Lagoon, Vatnajökull Glacier, Iceland

The Faltering of Europe's King Glacier

Only in Greenland and Antarctica are glaciers comparable to Vatnajökull, the supreme glacier of the old continent. And yet, even this colossus that gives more meaning to the term ice land is surrendering to the relentless siege of global warming.
Thingvellir National Park, Iceland

The Origins of the Remote Viking Democracy

The foundations of popular government that come to mind are the Hellenic ones. But what is believed to have been the world's first parliament was inaugurated in the middle of the XNUMXth century, in Iceland's icy interior.
Jok​ülsárlón Lagoon, Iceland

The Chant and the Ice

Created by water from the Arctic Ocean and the melting of Europe's largest glacier, Jokülsárlón forms a frigid and imposing domain. Icelanders revere her and pay her surprising tributes.
Iceland

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Europe's supreme cascade rushes into Iceland. But it's not the only one. On this boreal island, with constant rain or snow and in the midst of battle between volcanoes and glaciers, endless torrents crash.
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On the trail of the Capelinhos Mistery

From one coast of the island to the opposite one, through the mists, patches of pasture and forests typical of the Azores, we discover Faial and the Mystery of its most unpredictable volcano.
Husavik a Myvatn, Iceland

Endless Snow on the Island of Fire

When, in mid-May, Iceland already enjoys some sun warmth but the cold and snow persist, the inhabitants give in to an intriguing summer anxiety.
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From the Art of Fishing to the Fishing of Art

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Chã das Caldeiras, Fogo Island Cape Verde

A "French" Clan at the Mercy of Fire

In 1870, a Count born in Grenoble on his way to Brazilian exile, made a stopover in Cape Verde where native beauties tied him to the island of Fogo. Two of his children settled in the middle of the volcano's crater and continued to raise offspring there. Not even the destruction caused by the recent eruptions deters the prolific Montrond from the “county” they founded in Chã das Caldeiras.    
São Miguel, Azores

São Miguel Island: Stunning Azores, By Nature

An immaculate biosphere that the Earth's entrails mold and soften is displayed, in São Miguel, in a panoramic format. São Miguel is the largest of the Portuguese islands. And it is a work of art of Nature and Man in the middle of the North Atlantic planted.
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El Tatio Geysers - Between the Ice and the Heat of the Atacama

Surrounded by supreme volcanoes, the geothermal field of El Tatio, in the Atacama Desert it appears as a Dantesque mirage of sulfur and steam at an icy 4200 m altitude. Its geysers and fumaroles attract hordes of travelers.
Nea Kameni, Santorini, Greece

The Volcanic Core of Santorini

About three millennia had passed since the Minoan eruption that tore apart the largest volcano island in the Aegean. The cliff-top inhabitants watched land emerge from the center of the flooded caldera. Nea Kameni, the smoking heart of Santorini, was born.
South of Iceland

South Iceland vs North Atlantic: a Monumental Battle

Volcano slopes and lava flows, glaciers and immense rivers all hang and flow from the high interior of the Land of Fire and Ice to the frigid and often angry ocean. For all these and many other reasons of Nature, the Southland It is the most disputed region in Iceland.
Believers greet each other in the Bukhara region.
City
Bukhara, Uzbequistan

Among the Minarets of Old Turkestan

Situated on the ancient Silk Road, Bukhara has developed for at least two thousand years as an essential commercial, cultural and religious hub in Central Asia. It was Buddhist and then Muslim. It was part of the great Arab empire and that of Genghis Khan, the Turko-Mongol kingdoms and the Soviet Union, until it settled in the still young and peculiar Uzbekistan.
Host Wezi points out something in the distance
Beach
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safari
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Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna 10th Circuit: Manang to Yak Kharka, Nepal

On the way to the Annapurnas Even Higher Lands

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Architecture & Design
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Back to the 30s

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The small lighthouse at Kallur, highlighted in the capricious northern relief of the island of Kalsoy.
Aventura
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A Lighthouse at the End of the Faroese World

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Tiredness in shades of green
Ceremonies and Festivities
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The Suzdal Cucumber Celebrations

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Lunch time
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Busy intersection of Tokyo, Japan
Culture
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The Endless Night of the Rising Sun Capital

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Chiang Khong to Luang Prabang, Laos, Through the Mekong Below
Traveling
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Slow Boat, Down the Mekong River

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Elalab, aerial view, Guinea Bissau
Ethnic
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A Tabanca in the Guinea of ​​Endless Meanders

There are countless tributaries and channels that, to the north of the great Cacheu River, wind through mangroves and soak up dry land. Against all odds, Felupe people settled there and maintain prolific villages surrounded by rice fields. Elalab, one of those villages, has become one of the most natural and exuberant tabancas in Guinea Bissau.
Portfolio, Got2Globe, Best Images, Photography, Images, Cleopatra, Dioscorides, Delos, Greece
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio
Got2Globe Portfolio

The Earthly and the Celestial

Hiroshima, city surrendered to peace, Japan
History
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Islands
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St. Trinity Church, Kazbegi, Georgia, Caucasus
Winter White
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God in the Caucasus Heights

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Baie d'Oro, Île des Pins, New Caledonia
Literature
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Sheki, Autumn in the Caucasus, Azerbaijan, Autumn Homes
Autumn
Sheki, Azerbaijan

autumn in the caucasus

Lost among the snowy mountains that separate Europe from Asia, Sheki is one of Azerbaijan's most iconic towns. Its largely silky history includes periods of great harshness. When we visited it, autumn pastels added color to a peculiar post-Soviet and Muslim life.
Everglades National Park, Florida, United States, flight over the Everglades canals
Natural Parks
Everglades National Park, Florida, USA

Florida's Great Weedy River

Anyone who flies over the south of the 27th state is amazed by the green, smooth and soggy vastness that contrasts with the surrounding oceanic tones. This unique U.S. marsh-prairie ecosystem is home to a prolific fauna dominated by 200 of Florida's 1.25 million alligators.
Ruins, Port Arthur, Tasmania, Australia
UNESCO World Heritage
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An Island Doomed to Crime

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female and cub, grizzly footsteps, katmai national park, alaska
Characters
PN Katmai, Alaska

In the Footsteps of the Grizzly Man

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Cahuita National Park, Costa Rica, Caribbean, Punta Cahuita aerial view
Beaches
Cahuita, Costa Rica

Dreadlocked Costa Rica

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Chepe Express, Chihuahua Al Pacifico Railway
On Rails
Creel to Los Mochis, Mexico

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Kogi, PN Tayrona, Guardians of the World, Colombia
Society
PN Tayrona, Colombia

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the projectionist
Daily life
Sainte-Luce, Martinique

The Nostalgic Projectionist

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Men dredge sand from the bed of the Sangha River for platform pirogues.
Wildlife
Ducret Expedition 1st:  OuéssoPN Lobeke, Congo Rep.; Cameroon

The Inaugural Ascent of the Sangha River

For an hour, we flew over the immense tropical expanse that separates the capital Brazzaville from the small riverside town of Ouésso. From its banks, we ascended the Sangha River to the Cameroonian national park of Lobéké, in a landscape still very much of “Heart of Darkness".
Bungee jumping, Queenstown, New Zealand
Scenic Flights
Queenstown, New Zealand

Queenstown, the Queen of Extreme Sports

In the century. XVIII, the Kiwi government proclaimed a mining village on the South Island "fit for a queen".Today's extreme scenery and activities reinforce the majestic status of ever-challenging Queenstown.