Vatnajökull, this Icelandic glacier almost as big as Corsica which “maybe wants to tell us something …”

“Here is our treasure!“exclaims Julie when she reaches the end of her climb of the path that has just led her to Vatnajökull, the largest ice cap in Iceland and the second largest glacier in Europe, of 8,300 square kilometers, equivalent to 95% of the surface of Corsica She arrived at this end of the world a few years ago and works as a ranger, patrolling the trails to make sure they are always accessible.

With a maximum thickness of 1000 meters, it loses its mass and recedes more than 100 meters per year on average since the 1990s … “It is a beauty that I will never tire of. It is magnificent to see these veins of ice which come down from the mountain with this very intense blue that we have in winter, she said to the magazine ‘1:15 p.m. on Saturday’ (replay), sitting on the edge of this fragile wonder. Vatnajökull means the ‘glacier of the waters’ or the glacier of the lakes.’ “

“A glacier is alive”

“It is an immense territory and this glacial tongue is the gateway to Vatnajökull, the end of which cannot be seen, specifies Julie. This territory is almost unexplored. I often call him my friend because having to maintain the paths that lead there to be able to contemplate him, that’s how we both became friends. He too perhaps considers me his friend too. “

“A glacier is alive. You can really hear this tremor. He talks and cracks his own weight. He might want to tell us things. He screams…” testifies with emotion the French ranger. Global warming and volcanic activity are believed to be the two main causes of the retreat of the glacier, which has about thirty glacial tongues and represents more than 8% of the surface of the Islance… but for how long?

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