Skaftá flood: “This could be very big”
Photo: Þorvaldur Örn Kristmundsson Þorvaldur Örn Kristmundsson
Water flow at the Sveinstindur measurement station on the Skaftá river is now some eight times greater than at midnight last night.
Iceland Met Office experts have been comparing data so far with previous Skaftá glacier river floods and concluded that this is the biggest surge even seen.
“This could be very big,” says IMO’s Snorri Zóphóniasson, and warns of traffic disruption due to flooded roads.
LIVE: Follow the flood waters
The Icelandic Met Office has a special webpage monitoring water height, flow, temperature and other indicators for rivers in Iceland.
You can follow the dramatic changes occurring in the Skaftá river due to the glacier river flood currently under way here.
On your first visit you may have to log in. If so the user name (‘notandi’) and password (‘lykilorð’) are available on the right-hand side of the log-in page.
Once in, you should click on ‘Suðurland’ on the left-hand-side menu, then on ‘Skaftá við Sveinstind’.
The six graphs available are:
- Water height (cm) – Vatnshæð (cm)
- Flow (m3/s) – Rennsli (m3/s)
- Water temperature (°C) – Vatnshiti (°C)
- Conductivity (μS/cm) – Leiðni (μS/cm)
- Light absorption (mV) – Ljósgleypni (mV)
- Air temperature (°C) – Lofthiti (°C)
Each graph can be enlarged by clicking on it.
An example of the graphs. Photo: Screenshot IMO
