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Image: Ivan Meljac
Where else but Iceland would you expect to find big chunks of ice on the beach, instead of sand? Behold the (brr!) beautiful beach of Jökulsárlón as photographed by French photographer Ivan Meljac, and featured in Quiet Moments in Iceland's Landscapes by Fotopedia.
Stephanie Vetter captured this amazing photograph of the Skógafoss waterfall in Iceland. The rainbow is caused not by sunlight, but the illumination of a nearly full moon against the backdrop of the Northern Lights.
A beautiful and trippy time-lapse video of the midnight sun in Iceland, filmed in June of 2011. From the vimeo description:
Iceland is a landscape photographers paradise and playground, and should be number 1 on every photographers must visit list. Iceland during the Midnight Sun is in sort of a permanent state of sunset. The sun never full sets and travels horizontally across the horizon throughout the night, as can be seen in the opening shot and at the :51 second mark in the video.
During the Arctic summer, sunset was at midnight and sunrise was at 3am. The Arctic summer sun provided 24 hours a day of light, with as much as 6 hours daily of “Golden light”. Once the sun had set it wouldn’t even get dark enough for the stars to come out, and they don’t start to reappear until August.
-via Metafilter
Stephanie Vetter captured this photograph of an aurora over Jökulsárlón, a glacial lake in Iceland. It won an international competition for landscape astrophotography.
Geothermal energy is plentiful in Iceland, so that nation is considering running an electrical cable under the ocean to Europe to sell its excess electricity. If successful, it’ll be the longest undersea electrical cable in the world:
Depending on the destination country, the cable would be between 1,200 and 1,900 kilometres (745-1,180 miles) long, making it “the longest sub-sea cable in the world.”
The project aims for the exportation of some five terawatt-hours (or five billion kilowatt-hours) each year, Jonsdottir said.
At current power prices in Europe, that corresponds to between 250 and 320 million euros ($350-448 million) in exports annually, and is enough to cover the average annual consumption of 1.25 million European households.
Link via Popular Science | Photo via Flickr user ThinkGeoEnergy used under Creative Commons license
Charts Bin presents an interactive map showing the distribution of passenger cars throughout the world. Iceland leads the world with 668 per 1,000 people. At the link, you can hover over each country to view more details.
Link via Ace of Spades HQ
A genetic study of Icelandic natives found a genetic variation in 80 people similar to a variation found mostly in Native Americans. The genetic code was traced back to four women who lived around 1700. But the history of Iceland leads experts to believe the gene must’ve entered the population hundreds of years earlier. The simplest answer so far that fits the facts is that some Viking brought back a Native American wife from North America, who then bore the first Viking-American child in Iceland.
“We know that Vikings sailed to the Americas,” said Agnar Helgason of deCODE Genetics and the University of Iceland, who co-wrote the study with his student Sigrídur Ebenesersdóttir and colleagues. “So all you have to do is assume … that they met some people and ended up taking at least one female back with them.
“Although it’s maybe interesting and surprising, it’s not all that incredible,” Helgason added. “The alternative explanations to me are less likely”—for example the idea that the genetic trait might exist independently, undiscovered, in a few Europeans.
Link -Thanks, Marilyn!
(Image credit: Robert Harding Picture Library, Alamy)
One country that is innovative in its harnessing of power is Iceland, and it doesn’t end with geothermal technology. They are considering designs by Choi + Shine (image) to erect power line pylons that depict humanoid figures. The designs can be easily modified to incorporate different poses, adding a stunning and thoughtful element to an otherwise bland structure.
Making only minor alterations to well established steel-framed tower design, we have created a series of towers that are powerful, solemn and variable. These iconic pylon-figures will become monuments in the landscape. Seeing the pylon-figures will become an unforgettable experience, elevating the towers to something more than merely a functional design of necessity.
The pylon-figures can be configured to respond to their environment with appropriate gestures. As the carried electrical lines ascend a hill, the pylon-figures change posture, imitating a climbing person. [They] can be placed in pairs, walking in the same direction or opposite directions, glancing at each other as they pass by or kneeling respectively, head bowed at a town.
The architectural firm won the 2010 award for unbuilt structure by the Boston Society of Architects, and honorable mention in the Icelandic High-Voltage Electrical Pylon International Design Competition.
Link via Wired Science.
The city of Reykjavik, Iceland held an election, and the Best Party won. In a multi-party election, the Best Party took 34.7% of the vote, more than any other. That means the party founder, comedian Jon Gnarr is now mayor. Gnarr formed the party to satirize the political system. In his campaign, he promised a polar bear for the zoo and a drug-free Parliament (by 2020). He now leads a city of 320,000 120,000 people.
In his acceptance speech he tried to calm the fears of the other 65.3 percent. “No one has to be afraid of the Best Party,” he said, “because it is the best party. If it wasn’t, it would be called the Worst Party or the Bad Party. We would never work with a party like that.”
With his party having won 6 of the City Council’s 15 seats, Mr. Gnarr needed a coalition partner, but ruled out any party whose members had not seen all five seasons of “The Wire.”
Gnarr attributes the win to voters protesting the established parties. Link -via reddit
(Image credit: Hordur Sveinsson)
The Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajökull, displayed some dramatic events during its Plinian eruption recently. Throughout this video, rapidly moving shockwaves can be seen reflecting off the cloud and crater as lava is blasted out of the fissure.
The Daily Telegraph has compiled a 31-image slideshow of amazing photographs of the volcano currently erupting in Iceland. Scientists aren’t sure why electrical discharges are visible during some volcanic eruptions, but:
One theory is that that the spewing magma bubbles or particles of volcanic ash are themselves electrically charged, and by their motion create separately charged areas.
Link via Geekologie | Photo: US Environmental Protection Agency
The Big Picture blog has some stunning images of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland. The volcano erupted on April 3rd and spewed enough ash into the air to disrupt air travel to and from Europe. See photographs of the eruption in progress and its effects on the atmosphere as well as satellite images. Link -via reddit
(image credit: Ulrich Latzenhofer/CC BY-SA)
When Icelandic chef Fridgeir Eiriksson learned that the Fimmvorduhals volcano was erupting, he decided to use the opportunity to cook a luxurious meal using the volcano’s heat:
On Tuesday, Eiriksson and three mates at the cafi of Reykjavik’s luxury hotel Holt drove supplies and “lots of champagne” up to the foot of the mountain in two trucks.
The chefs set up a make-shift dining area near a lava field with a red carpet, a small table and two bolstered chairs for a customers who were to be flown up by helicopter.[...]
With mercury dipping to as low as minus 30 degrees at the mountain over the last few days and the glowing fresh lava around them the diners were offered: lobster soup, flaming lobster and monkfish and lava-cooked shallot onions and Veuve Clicquot champagne.
Link via The Daily Telegraph (larger images available) | Photo: Kristjan Jogason/Demotix Images
Darth Vader did not approve of how the conductor of the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra was leading a performance of The Imperial March, so he stepped in to do the job himself.
In the links, you’ll find a longer video of this event from CNN.
via Topless Robot | CNN Video | Orchestra Website
Johanna Sigurdardottir, an Icelandic MP, was elected Prime Minister of Iceland this week. She is the first openly gay prime minister in world history.
The 66-year-old politician lives with her partner, Jonina Leosdottir, a journalist and playwright. The couple were joined in a civil ceremony in 2002. Don’t expect them to show up togetherfor photocalls, however – that’s not the Icelandic way. Though she is famous across the island, having been a top politician for years, her lesbian union was no big deal in this calmly progressive nation of only 300,000 people.
“Johanna is a very private person,” said an Icelandic government source. “A lot of people didn’t even know she was gay. When they learn about it people tend to shrug and say, ‘Oh’. That’s not to say they are not interested; they are interested in who she’s living with – but no more so than if she was a man living with a woman.”
