This infographic of sorts is meant to be a fun thing. It shows how living in Iceland is perceived through the eyes of Europeans, Americans, Icelanders and then what it really is like. There truly is a lot left to be desired, but it’s a fun picture that does offer a fun view of Iceland.

Incoming search terms:

• living in iceland

Less than 2 years after March 2010 eruption of Icelandic Eyjafjallajokull Volcano, seizmologists warn that one of Iceland’s largest volcanoes – Katla is sure to erupt in the near future and its blast could be the strongest in Europe in 300 years. With Katla’s eruption imminent, economists are speculating that its effect on the worldwide markets could be detrimental.

Katla lays hundreds of metres under one of Iceland’s largest glaciers, just to the east of the recently erupted and significantly smaller Eyjafjallajökull. The volcano’s crater is 10 km (6.2 mile) in diameter but it’s the huge sheet of ice that covers it that’s the main cause of concern. If Ketla erupts and the ice melts, billions of gallons of water will come flowing down Iceland’s east coast and into the Atlantic Ocean causing catastrophic flooding worldwide.

More than 500 tremors were registered in and around the caldera of Katla in just the last month, an activity which indicates imminent eruption. Katla is a very active volcano with eruptions of various strengths coming every 13 to 95 years. When it erupted in 1783, the eight months long activity generated so much ash, hydrogen fluoride and sulphur dioxide, one in five Icelanders and half of all livestock on the island died. This eruption also changed the Earth’s climate. Will Katla’s 2011 eruption be just as or more catastrophic?

Incoming search terms:

• eyjafjallajokull volcano viking
• katla

The latest picture of lightings and smoke hovering above erupting Eyjafjallajokull Volcano I posted was amazing, but this one is even better. Captured by Icelandic photographer Sigurdur Hrafn Stefnisson, this image of lightning ridden volcano’s ash plume, caused by the collisions of ice and rock particles in the atmosphere, after they were loosened by exploding magma is nothing short of breathtaking.

Incoming search terms:

• Eyjafjallajokull
• volcanoes erupting
• Eyjafjallajokull volcano
• Erupting Volcano
• volcano smoke
• erupting volcanoes
• Erupting Volcano And Lightning
• eyjafjallajokull eruption lightning
• lightning and volcanoes
• smoke and lightning

Mayhem created by Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokul Volcano is over, but the memory of its eruption is still pretty much fresh. As a refresher of the memories of what Mother Nature has for us within the Earth’s belly, I would like to share this amazing photo of ominous lightning streaking across the sky as lava flows and ash spews from Eyjafjallajokul on April 17, 2010.

Photo of lighting above Eyjafjallajokul volcano was taken by Lucas Jackson for Reuters.

Incoming search terms:

• Volcano Lightning

People of Iceland Still Speak the Original Viking Language, Photo: screenpunk, Flickr

Discovery and Settlement by Vikings

There is some evidence that Native Americans had hunted and fished on Iceland’s shores prior to Viking discovery. However, there were no permanent settlements. Icelandic tradition says the island was discovered in the mid-ninth century by Naddoddr, a settler of the Faroe Islands off the northern coast of Scotland. However, the first permanent settlement was not thought to have been founded until 874 C.E. by the Norwegian chieftain Ingólfur Arnarson. Over the next sixty years, Iceland became completely settled primarily by a mix of Norse, Irish, and Scottish inhabitants.

Governance and Expansion

The Viking chieftains of Iceland came together in 930 C.E. to form the Althing, a parliamentary system. Once a year the chieftains met to discuss the law and settle disputes. For the next two hundred years, Iceland enjoyed relative peace and prosperity. With a governing body, relative isolation, and few enemies, the population of Iceland grew and even began colonizing Greenland and the eastern shores of what is now Canada.

Þingvellir - Where Vikings Founded The Althing, The Oldest Parliament in the World, Photo: Andreas Tille, Wikipedia

Even with its distance from Europe, Iceland was still tied to the mainland culturally and commercially. With the rise and eventual dominance of Christianity on the continent, including Scandinavia, the Icelanders were under increasing pressure to convert to the Christian faith and eventually the entire population was declared Christian.

End of Viking Independence in Iceland

The decision to convert to Christianity was one step away from independence. By the middle of the eleventh century the Viking Age had ended in Scandinavia as well as Iceland. Norway, Sweden, and Denmark were firmly established as Christian kingdoms and the adventurous Vikings had either been absorbed into a local society or had established societies of their own such as Iceland.

Iceland went through a period of civil conflict during the eleventh and twelfth centuries as various prominent families fought for dominance. The strife, and the sovereignty of the Viking chieftains, ended with the signing of the Old Covenant, establishing Iceland as a vassal state of Norway. This effectively ended the history of the Vikings in Iceland.

Incoming search terms:

• ICELAND HISTORY
• viking
• vikings history
• vikings
• vikings history iceland

Researchers from Columbia and Yale Universities put 163 countries through their Environmental Performance Index test and Iceland ranked first proving that despite volcanic disruption, Iceland is the cleanest country in the world.

Environmental Performance Index takes into account 25 different indicators, including quality of air, quality of water, greenhouse gas emissions, health of the population and how it is impacted by the environment, and much more.

Maximum attainable score on the Environmental Performance Index is 100 and Iceland scored 93.5 mainly thanks to its super clean water which comes out of the tap cleaner than what you would get out of a bottle of some of world’s most expensive mineral waters, great national health care system, amplitude of protected nature areas and effective harvesting of clean, environmentally friendly geothermal energy.

For comparison, the US ranked in the middle of the Environmental Performance Index scoring 63.4 points but if it wasn’t was widely available, safe drinking water, it would have been far worse. Canada ranked 46th on the list scoring 66.4 points. The lowest ranking country with the total score of 32 points was Sierra Leone.

Daniel Esty, a professor of environmental law at Yale University who heads up the Environmental Performance Index maintains that eruption of Eyjafjallajokull volcano will not affect Iceland’s rating for 2012. According to his words, Environmental Performance Index measures how governments are performing in relation to environmental policy goals, how government secures access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation, how natural habitats are protected and emissions controlled. As such, Environmental Performance Index only considers the amount of sulphur dioxide released to the atmosphere by humans burning fossil fuels, not by what is released by nature.

Congratulations to Iceland for being the cleanest country in the world.

Incoming search terms:

• CLEANEST country in the world 2012
• cleanest country in the world
• cleanest countries in the world 2012

While it is clear that Fimmvorduhals Volcano which erupted in south Iceland on March 20, 2010 will not flood the area by melting nearby Eyjafjallajokull glacier, it is still very active and poses potential serious threats to inquisitive visitors. Volcano eruptions are accompanied by a release of poisonous gases such as fluorine, sulfur, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide – the latest of which is odourless, coloursless and deadly. In spite of potential dangers, some Icelandic people dared to walk up on the glacier to take close-up videos and photos of erupting Fimmvorduhals Volcano and that’s how the video found above was captured.

Authorities have postponed planned opening of the Thorsmork road due to increased lava flow in Hvanna however local business owners are hoping the eruptions will continue. As it turns out, the activity of Fimmvorduhals Volcano has attracted a whole plethora of tourists looking for adventure like no other – experiencing live volcano during eruption. Hotels in the proximity of Fimmvorduhals Volcano are booked solid, establishments with view of the volcano are getting sold out and touring packages offering helicopter flights over Fimmvorduhals are seeing endless interest from foreigners and Icelanders alike. This is exactly what Iceland needed after that unfortunate currency collapse following near bankruptcy of the country. Funny how luck can come out of misfortune.

The last recorded eruption in Iceland prior to Fimmvorduhals Volcano took place in 2004, however the last time lava spewed out of the Earth’s core in the neighborhood of the Eyjafjallajoekull glacier, it was the year of 1823.

Eyjafjallajokull Volcano Eruption - The Fifth Largest in Iceland, Photo Source: LiveLeak.com

Since Eyjafjallajokull Volcano erupted below the ice, there were concerns that it could cause severe flooding (similar to eruption under Vattnajoekull glacier which destroyed part of the Ring Road and nearby bridge) but the lava started moving down a gorge, not towards the ice caps so this threat has been reduced. However, based on historical reports, when Eyjafjallajokull Volcano erupts, nearby Katla Volcano follows. Throughout history, Katla always erupted after Eyjafjallajokull, the only question is when and how strong her eruption will be. Geologists not only from Iceland, but certainly from all over the world tend to agree that if Katla goes off, the eruption could have global consequences.

Eyjafjallajokull Glacier is the fifth largest in Iceland. The last time Eyjafjallajoekull Volcano erupted, it was the year of 1821. Below is an amazing video showing the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull Volcano as seen from the plane hovering at a safe distance above the volcano:

Incoming search terms:

• Eyjafjallajokull eruption
• volcano eruption
• volcanoes
• volcano facts
• eyjafjallajokull facts
• eyjafjallajökull volcano facts
• eruption
• katla volcano
• iceland volcano eruption
• eyjafjallajokull facts and figures

Hitchhiking in Iceland - It Can Be Easily Done, Photo: Nicolas Haeringer, Flickr

It’s a hitchhiking general rule of thumb that young females will have more luck picking up a ride, but even as a male I’ve never had any type of issues at all. Your age and/or gender seem to play insignificant role and drivers will likely be willing to give you a ride if they can, no matter who you are.

When I drove a rental car around Iceland, I picked up a couple of hitchhikers myself. One was a lady in her late 30’s. I picked her up at the exit of the Skaftafell National Park and she went with me all the way to Jökulsárlón glacial lagoon. She said she only waited there for a few minutes but there were many cars leaving the park so it appeared as a decent location for hitchhiking. Few days later I picked up young couple at the turnoff towards Dettifoss waterfalls (which was the worst gravel road in whole of Iceland in my opinion) and these two were stuck there for a few hours. I was third car that passed by there since they started hitchhiking hours ago. Since they were a couple, each with backpacks, a tent and sleeping bags, I could imagine that previous two cars did not have enough room to take them. I was by myself, hence it was OK.

As a general rule, I think that hitchhiking is easy in Iceland – it does work. One only has to take into account that the traffic is very scarce outside of larger towns. If you’re in a neighborhood of Reykjavik or Akureyri, you’ll get a ride right away. However if you’re in a more remote areas (which is at least 80% of Iceland), you could be stuck there for a while before you see first car coming your direction.

This can also be easily noticed from driver’s perspective. I know that outside of bigger towns, I would be driving for hours before there is a car in oncoming direction. Some days I would not see more than a dozen cars on the road, other than my rental, and that’s on Ring Road. It gets even more scarce inland.

To sum it up – if you can plan your hitchhiking trip out in such a way that you’re always dropped off in bigger towns, then you’ll have no problem moving from place to place by just the means of a lifted finger. Plan out your itinerary before hand and always know which is the biggest town or a popular tourist spot on the way and make sure you don’t get in a car that doesn’t go all the way there. Popular tourist spots always have many people on cars around, so if you pick a spot on the road close to the turnoff from where they are joining the main road, but not too far so they see you before they reach full cruising speed, the chances of getting picked up are very fair. Not to mention that if you get picked up by a local, it is quite possible you will be invited for supper. Hitchhiking in Iceland is fun and can be easily done with a bit of forward planning.

Incoming search terms:

• hitchhike
• hitchhiking iceland
• hitchhiking in iceland
• автостоп
• hitchhikers
• hitch hiking
• iceland hitchhiking
• hitchhike iceland

Most of Iceland’s government, public and economic institutions, including the Icelandic Parliament are located in Reykjavik. The capital of Iceland is also home to country’s main hospital, the University of Iceland, the national museum, and much more.

Throughout recent years, the capital of Iceland has grown in population due to high living standards offered not only by the city, but an entire country. Reykjavik is highly modernized with great infrastructure and world class amenities. Nightlife in Reykjavik is vibrant, shopping malls are classy, culture and art segments are nothing short of brilliant, food is delicious and festivals are mind-blowing.

Panorama Photo of Reykjavik with the church of Hallgrimur, Photo: Gúnna, Flickr

Even though Reykjavik has its own airport, international flight to Iceland are served through nearby Keflavik international airport, which is Iceland’s largest airport and main hub for country’s international transport. Keflavik is only about 30 kilometers away from the capital of Iceland.

Incoming search terms:

• eyjafjallajokull eruption 2010
• reykjavik airport
• Church of Hallgrimur
• reykjavik iceland airport
• reykjavik church
• iceland airport
• keflavík international airport
• The Church of Hallgrimur Reykjavik Iceland
• reykjavik panorama