Recent research
Öræfajökull : Recent research
Markarfljót outwash plain and Öræfajökull
The project belongs to Gosvá, a national collaborative research programme on the assessment of volcanic hazard risks in Iceland led by the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO). The programme's steering committee is composed of representatives from IMO, the Institute of Earth Sciences (IES, University of Iceland), the Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management of the National Commissioner of the Icelandic Police, the Soil Conservation Service of Iceland, and the Icelandic Road and Coastal Administration.
In the Markarfljót outwash plain, the project can be seen as a continuation of the extensive effort dedicated to the assessment of floods caused by eruptions of Katla (the volcano underlying Mýrdalsjökull) and Eyjafjallajökull performed in the years 2002–2005 (Guðmundsson and Gylfason, 2005). In the Öræfi district, this project is the first attempt to assess together the magnitude and impact of jökulhlaups on the inhabited slopes of Öræfajökull Volcano, situated west and south from the caldera.
Both the magnitude of volcanogenic floods and their impact were investigated in the project. Potential adverse consequences received particular attention, with the present project being the first attempt in Iceland to systematically map flood-damage potential as well as spatio-temporal patterns in population exposure. As regards the magnitude of floods, flood timings and routing, the methodologies set out in previous Katla and Eyjafjallajökull hazard assessments were applied.
The project was funded mainly by the National Avalanche and Landslide Fund, with additional financial contributions from the Icelandic Road and Coastal Administration and the National Power Company.
Published material
Pagneux, E., Gudmundsson, M. T., Karlsdóttir, S., & Roberts, M. J. (Eds.) (2015). Volcanogenic floods in Iceland: An assessment of hazards and risks at Öræfajökull and on the Markarfljót outwash plain. Reykjavík: IMO, IES-UI, NCIP-DCPEM.
Under the links below, each of the chapters can be downloaded or short summaries read.
Downloadable material:
Full text (pdf 23 Mb)
Front matter (pdf 180 Kb)
Table of contents (pdf 7.9 Kb)
Chapter I. Volcanogenic floods in Iceland: An exploration of hazards and risks (pdf 1.06 Mb)
Pages 7–16
Emmanuel Pagneux, Sigrún Karlsdóttir, Magnús T. Gudmundsson, Matthew J. Roberts og Víðir Reynisson
Chapter II. Öræfajökull Volcano: Geology and historical floods (pdf 5.43 Mb)
Pages 17–44
Matthew J. Roberts og Magnús T. Gudmundsson
Chapter III. Öræfajökull Volcano: Eruption melting scenarios (pdf 3.33 Mb)
Pages 45–72
Magnús T. Gudmundsson, Þórdís Högnadóttir og Eyjólfur Magnússon
Chapter IV. Öræfajökull Volcano: Numerical simulations of eruption-induced jökulhlaups using the SAMOS flow model (pdf 5.89 Mb)
Pages 73–100
Ásdís Helgadóttir, Emmanuel Pagneux, Matthew J. Roberts, Esther H. Jensen og Eiríkur Gíslason
Chapter V. Öræfi district and Markarfljót outwash plain: Rating of flood hazards (pdf 2.35 Mb)
Pages 101–122
Emmanuel Pagneux og Matthew J. Roberts
Chapter VI. Öræfi district and Markarfljót outwash plain: Spatio-temporal patterns in population exposure to volcanogenic floods (pdf 2.75 Mb)
Pages 123–140
Emmanuel Pagneux
Chapter VII. Öræfajökull: Evacuation time modelling of areas prone to volcanogenic floods (pdf 2.96 Mb)
Pages 141–164
Emmanuel Pagneux
Recommended citation for individual chapters (example):
Roberts, M. J., & Gudmundsson, M. T. (2015). Öræfajökull Volcano: Geology and historical floods. In E. Pagneux, M. T. Gudmundsson, S. Karlsdóttir, & M. J. Roberts (Eds.), Volcanogenic floods in Iceland: An assessment of hazards and risks at Öræfajökull and on the Markarfljót outwash plain (pp. 17–44). Reykjavík: IMO, IES-UI, NCIP-DCPEM.
