WORK IN PROGRESS

Vatnajökull Glacier (Documentary 120´)

VATNAJÖKULL GLACIER, THE ICELANDIC GIANT

Script:
Gunnlaugur Þór Pálsson, Þorvarður Árnason & Hrafnhildur Hannesdóttir

Producers:
Þorvarður Árnason, Gunnlaugur Þór Pálsson & Kristín Björg Þorsteinsdóttir

Advisors:
Helgi Björnsson & Snævarr Guðmundsson

Co-producers:
Icelandic Film Fund, Ministry of the Icelandic Environment, Vatnajökull National Park, Þórbergs Museum at Hali, Research center of the University of Iceland Höfn in Hornafjörður, South-East Nature Visitor Center and Sjónfilm

Director:
Gunnlaugur Þór Pálsson & Þorvarður Árnason

Synopsis

VATNAJOKULL GLACIER is a feature-length creative documentary film (100-120 minutes). Vatnajokull, its glacier tongues, volcanoes and wilderness are the film’s main focal points, together with Vatnajokull National Park. This „White Giant“ covers about 7.5% of Iceland’s total area and is therefore the country’s largest natural phenomenon by far. Vatnajokull is at the same time a „volcanic glacier“ – its volcanic activity, spread all over under the ice cap, is the foundation for the interaction between those two opposite threatening forces of nature – fire and ice -, and that is unique on a global scale.

Now, in the era of global climate changes that threatens the very existence of the glacier, we ask its neighbours and benefactors about the environment around the glacier – we go shepherding with farmers, do research expeditions with scientists and field trips with rangers, and discover the overwhelming power of the glacier in the workshops of artists.

Is the Icelandic biosphere, landscape and/or society soon about to collapse because of a catastrophic global warming? What can we do to prevent that from happening?

Vatnajokull is the largest glacier on Earth outside the polar regions and therefore important to the entire world. It is so big, complex, and amazing that it’s almost impossible to wrap your head around it all at once. Its beautiful white appearance also has its dark side, it can be a destructive force that covers and crushes everything in its way. Its ice landscape is completely alien and uninhabitable. But there we also find a haunting beauty that has no equal, a beauty rooted in a wild, free, and abundant nature.

In a nutshell, the beauty of Vatnajokull demands amazement and awe in the presence of these wonders of nature, which in turn deepens the understanding of the importance of protecting such nature. The glacier is dynamic, alive to a certain extent. It moves forward in the winter – then takes a jump from time to time; it runs. It changes with the seasons, is rough and white during the summer, but smooth and glacial blue during deep winter. The consequences of the atmosphere’s catastrophic warming are most visible in the increasingly rapid melting and retreat of the glaciers; they will be mostly gone in 100-150 years.

Vatnajokull and the national park that bears its name are unique because of the opposing forces of nature – fire and ice – that are found there, as well as the unique interaction between those forces, which is the foundation for the geological diversity within the national park. The keepers of the park are working on the development of a forward-looking, green development that considers organized land use and protection plans. And at the same time, they strive to connect nature, human life, and culture, to uncover the synergy between nature conservation and the development of communities in the areas surrounding the national park.

The plot and approach of the film VATNAJOKULL will primarily be carried by the stories of people with different background who know the area intimately: scientists, artists, rangers and, finally, farmers who have a long family history in the vicinity of the glacier, some of whom have recorded the history of changing glacier and glacier outburst floods.

Vatnajokull and its immediate surroundings are an important and ever-active laboratory for increased understanding of climate processes; the strata and the glaciers preserve the history of climate change, which is important to know when assessing likely changes in the future. One of the main driving forces and the motivation behind the film is observing the scientific expeditions of domestic and international scientists, such as the glacier group of the University of Iceland, the Meteorological Office of Iceland, and the Southeast Iceland Nature Research Centre.

The documentary VATNAJOKULL starts at the southwestern part of the glacier, at the roots of the largest active glacial sands in the world, Skeidarársandur, with the murmur from the rivers Skeidará, Súla, Núpsvötn and Gígjukvísl in the background. In this area, the glacier rises from its volcanic base with both extinct and active volcanoes. It melts together fire and ice, heat and frost, for the mantle plume below is the main lifeblood of volcanic activity in Iceland. North of Tungnaá and all the way up to Vonarskard, Tungnaároraefi are a barren, lava-covered wilderness under the influence of the great Bárdarbunga volcano system. The tuff ridges are the most unique natural phenomena there because ridges like that are found nowhere else on Earth. Tuff ridges and rows of craters lie side by side, formed by volcanic eruptions, either under a glacier or on ice free land. The Laki craters, which greatly influenced the course of world history towards the end of the eighteenth century, are examples of the latter. The scenic Langisjór highland lake lies between two tuff ridges in a depression that was originally filled with glacial water but is now clear blue.

Volcanic eruptions under a glacier in modern times result in glacial outburst floods which, among other things, carry many ice floes and icebergs, fragments of the glacier. When these ice floes and icebergs melt, they leave kettle holes that become oases of vegetation, as can be witnessed in many places on the Skeidarásandur sands. Iceland Glaciological Society has built cabins on Grímsfjall by Grímsvötn and elsewhere. These facilities, as well as the creation of the society itself, are unique; glacier enthusiasts and experts come together to experience and research.

Vonarskard is a high temperature geothermal area at about 950-1100 AMSL, with an unusually diverse and lush vegetation, as well as unique microbes.

Bárdarbunga is a central volcano in the middle of the „hot spot“ in Iceland. It produced the dike through Dyngjujokull in the eruption that brought us Holuhraun lava field in 2014-2015.

Kverkfjöll is a major volcanic centre at the northern edge of Vatnajokull and the third highest mountain range in Iceland after Öraefajokull and Bárdarbunga. One of the most powerful geothermal areas in the country is in Kverkfjöll. Many ice caves and cave systems have materialized in the river that flows down through the glacier. Deep in these fairy-tale blue caves there are all kinds of ice crystals, microbes, ash, and tephra deposits between the layers of ice. Research on the interaction of fire and ice in Iceland will give us a better understanding of the coexistence of ice and volcanism on other planets, e.g., on Mars and Io, one of the moons of Jupiter.

Herdubreidarlindir is a green oasis east of Herdubreid, Iceland’s queen of all mountains! A huge spring area is sheltered by Lindá; 7 of the 10 largest spring areas in the world can be found in Iceland.

Brúarjokull is the largest glacier tongue in Vatnajokull. It is famous for the massive outburst floods that occur every 80-100 years; they are the largest outburst floods on Earth, and the glacier then advances by 8-10 km in a few months. The catastrophic glacial retreat and the lateral action of the reservoirs in Hoffellsjokull and Heinabergsjokull is the scientific platform of the Southeast Iceland Nature Research Centre, as well as mapping the depth and bottom of all the glacial lagoons in the southern glaciers of Vatnajokull.

The extremes of the Icelandic glacier world are at Jokulsarlón glacial lagoon on Breidamerkursandur, a completely unique research site right next to Highway 1, Iceland’s Ring Road. We will see the university’s glaciological team walking across the glacier with their glacial survey equipment and different kinds of measuring instruments. They are Hrafnhildur Hannesdóttir, Gudfinna Adalgeirsdóttir and Finnur Pálsson, all glaciologists who manage these studies. Breidamerkurjokull has retreated the most of all the Icelandic glaciers, and the sand area in front of it, Breidamerkursandur, which was almost entirely covered by the glacier around 1890, is now shaped by the geological processes unleashed by the retreating glacier. The glacier has left behind many different landforms there. These landforms form the basis for the formation of new habitats and then the creation of new ecosystems for organisms.

Glaciers in their summer attire and glaciers in their winter clothing are completely different beasts. In summer, the glacier is uneven and white, with black and cracked glacier snouts, but in winter it becomes sky blue, clear, and smooth, better reflecting the varied light from above. When you walk on a glacier in winter, it often feels like you are stepping on a rainbow, or a very deep blue colour, light blue, green, or yellow. Being surrounded by glaciers in winter is a unique experience. The ice caves of Breidamerkurjokull are extremely beautiful structures, where you can enter the glacier, and you are surrounded by blue hue and ice sculptures of all shapes and sizes.

Breidamerkurjokull has yielded birch logs, the remains of an ancient forest that the glacier destroyed about 3,100 years ago. There are written sources about this great forest in annals and church books, as well as in the Sagas. Here we must mention one of the most famous ancient warriors of Icelandic legends, Kári Sölmundarson, but according to Njáls Saga, he was a farmer on Breidamörk in Sudursveit county; a farm that Breidamerkurjokull swallowed in the 16th or 17th century. We will visualize and make use of the paintings of Alice Watterson, an archaeologist and painter, along with old maps and high-quality aerial photographs from The National Land Survey of Iceland, in the reconstruction of the ancient landscape. The research work of glacial geologist Snaevarr Gudmundsson and botanist Thóra Ellen Thórhallsdóttir gives us reasons to conclude that in earlier times there was a huge birch forest where Breidamerkursandur now is.

Skaftafell is blessed by its magnificent natural beauty, such as incomparable views to the highest peak in the country, Öraefajokull, the southernmost outpost of Vatnajokull, with all its glaciers tongues. It is necessary to monitor their performance, growth, and retreat, as well as measuring and mapping their glacial lagoons, but they have grown enormously since 1995; most of them are now 200-270 m deep and reach far below sea level.

In between research trips we visit artists, rangers, and farmers; How has living near the glacier been over time? Poet Steinunn Sigurdardóttir tells us about the bright perspective of the child who was fascinated by the white eternal mountain and the path to uncertain contemporary changes in a love declaration to the land and the glacier. The mountain farmer Heida Gudný Ásgeirsdóttir is a true nature’s child at Ljótarstadir, the innermost farm in Skaftártunga. As well as taking care of five hundred sheep, she has fought for her existence and the county’s future, defended it so not everything is sacrificed for a few megawatts; she is a „modern woman and heroine“. Intuition and lifestyle are interwoven with the love of the land.

At Herdubreidarlindir we meet writer Andri Snaer Magnason: „The big changes in the next 100 years involve the Earth’s water management. Glaciers are melting, sea levels are rising, and the world’s weather systems are getting out of balance“. Magnason’s book “About time and water” is his ode to everything that is alive, has lived and hopefully will live if…?

Artist Eva Bjarnadóttir lives on Fagurhólsmýri in Öraefasveit. She grew up in Reykjavík, but after studying dressmaking and textiles, she moved to Amsterdam. The old abattoir by the airport on Fagurhólsmýri is now a workshop and a guesthouse, where Eva creates her art with Öraefajokull directly in sight.

We also meet Thrúdmar Thrúdmarsson, a farmer at Hoffell by Hoffellsjokull. He describes how their coexistence has changed, – this old brute has suddenly become a high-quality tourist attraction!

We visit a young couple, Íris Ragnarsdóttir Pedersen and Árni Stefán Haldorsen, who run a mountain school in Oraefi, as well as the couple Einar Rúnar Sigurdsson and Matthildur Unnur Thorsteinsdóttir, who take tourists on bird watching tours in the summer and on glacier trips in the winter.

Poet and writer Haukur Ingvarsson gets his inspiration from the wild and pristine nature. Since early childhood, his vision and love for nature began to get different kinds of manifestations in the form of new windows on our existence and how the present will accept the future, – and where we are heading?

The married couple Thorbjorg Arnórsdóttir and Fjölnir Torfason live on Hali in Sudursveit county, where they arrange cultural tourism in addition to Thórbergssetur literary centre. They show us how the landscape has changed and how toponyms and the ways of life have been preserved on the outskirts of Breidamerkursandur on the deserted farm Fell, under Fellsfjall. And last, but not least, we visit the photo gallery of artist Ólafur Elíasson, who has been fascinated by glaciers and, among other things, prepared dual photos with aerial photos of Icelandic glaciers taken from the same angle, but with a 20-30-year time difference!

We will also get to know the many-sided work of the people – rangers, experts, and national park rangers – who look after Vatnajokull National Park, a protected area that was placed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2019. We will for instance meet Kári Kristjánsson by Tjarnargígur in Laki, where he has, with extensive work and lots of patience, managed to heal the wounds of this hypersensitive land by importing moss. We also present the rangers’ educational work through for instance nature interpretation in the field.

Nína Aradóttir is a ranger, but at the same time finishing her doctoral studies in glacial geology at The University of Iceland. She describes how the different emphases of her platform are communicated to the scientific community, as well as to the visitors of Vatnajokull National Park.

The retreat of Vatnajokull – its depletion – is a clear indication of how real the global climate change is. Information about the situation in the past, present, and future, is the key to understanding climate change. In the film, the emphasis is on describing the history of Vatnajokull from the end of the last ice age (ca. 8,000 BC) to the settlement of Iceland (ca. 874 AD). Then we will trace the progress to the beginning and the end of the so-called „Little Ice Age“, and from there to the present day. Finally, the future will be visualized to show how this story might progress – and how it will possibly end. Scientists have created computational models of what will be the likely development of the glacier on a 100-200-year time axis. Based on that, we create a prediction model on how we believe the scenario will be from 2024 to 2124, provided the anthropogenic global warming will be less than 1.5°-2°C during this period. We also consider what the outcome would be with global warming of 3° or 4°C (cf. the latest IPCC-scenarios).

It is not difficult to establish a reliable time axis from the Settlement period to the end of the Little Ice Age, around 1890. We have the surveying maps of the Danish Military Council, made in 1903-04, which show us with great precision the position of the glacier, its contours and height during its greatest advance. We also have access to written sources, photographs, and other scientific data like the Swedish/Icelandic glacier research expedition 1936-39, with expedition leader the Swede Hans W. Ahlmann and his trainee and assistant, Sigurdur Thórarinsson, the first Icelandic glaciologist.

In modern times the cornerstone for the overall picture is built on the glacial survey equipment of glaciologist Dr. Helgi Bjornsson, as well as his life’s work. We use visual videos and computational models to highlight and present an across-the-board sequence of events in the period from 874 to 1890, as well as from 2024 to 2124. This sequence of events is not only of importance to Icelanders, but mankind in its entirety. The development of the climate the next 100 years will be determined by our decisions and responses today. We talk to Hjalti Már Bjornsson, doctor and chairman of the Association of Doctors Against Environmental Hazards – why are doctors starting to speak out about the state of nature and climate issues? We also interview young activists, including Gunnhildur Frída Hallgrímsdóttir; what can we do to keep – and breathe new life into – the hope for a world that has not yet been completely turned upside down by catastrophic global warming? We also meet young people from Hornafjördur, law student Arndís Ósk Magnúsdóttir from Hólmur, Mýrar county, and a student in filmmaking Tómas Nói Hauksson from Höfn; What does the glacier depletion look like on home soil?

In the final scene of the film, we see farmer Elínborg Pálsdóttir (b. 1923), as she stands by the riverbank at the Jokulsá bridge on Breidamerkursandur, hand in hand with a little girl. When Elínborg was 10 years old, Breidamerkurjokull reached the place where they now stand, which means that Jokulsá glacial lagoon did not exist then. In her lifetime, the glacier has retreated by 8-9 km, and when Elínborg’s great-granddaughter reaches her age, Jokulsá glacial lagoon will probably have become Iceland’s largest lake, approx. 20-25 km long, and the glacier will be mostly gone.

Ancient Birch Logs at Breidamerkurfjall-Mountain (Heimildarkvikmynd 30´)

Script and Production:
Gunnlaugur Þór Pálsson & Alice Waterman

Producers:
Gunnlaugur Þór Pálsson, Þorvarður Árnason & Kristín Björg Þorsteinsdóttir

Advisors:
Snævarr, Guðmundsson, Ólafur Eggertsson & Þóra Ellen Þórhallsdóttir

Co-Producers:
Þórbergs Museum at Hali, Research Center of the University of Iceland Höfn in Hornafjörður, South-East Nature Visitor Center & Sjónfilm

Director:
Gunnlaugur Þór Pálsson

ANCIENT BIRCH TRUNKS AT BREIDAMERKURFJALL tells about the discovery of birch logs from an ancient forest that has been found in sediments at Breidamerkurjokull-glacier, first in 2017 (read news article) and 2019 and again in February 2023. Breidamerkurjokull-glacier is retreating and delivering these tree trunks which he captured about 3,100 years ago and the glacier has preserved well in its icy embrace. With the research of Snaevarr Gudmundsson, a glacial geologist, as well as the involvement of Ólafur Eggertsson, a geologist at Icelandic Forest Service and Thóra Ellen Thórhallsdóttir, a botanist at the University of Iceland, we can conclude that Breidamerkursandur used to be a huge birch forest. And this is also extremely interesting because it shows us what it was like before people settled here and there were large forests in Iceland. The study of the tree trunks will increase our understanding of the full range of conditions in the pre-Settlement of the Southeast. We can conclude that the ancient Breidamerkurbaer-farm had a fertile forest and all vegetation conditions were very good. We can also get a glimpse of the great climate changes that have taken place in modern times, – the last 10,000 years after the ice age ended and the glacier disappeared. So this session can reveal a lot of interesting things. It is nice to get evidence like this, and it can be confirmed with solid data that Iceland was forested between the mountains and the sea before settlement.

Plot, objectives and content:

The story and the development of the plot will be told through interviews with SG, ÓE, ÞEÞ, AW etc. We will show and position the venue i.e. Breidamerkursandur in its current appearance as well as going to the places where the birch tree drums were found. The basic idea, however, is to photograph the scene, the landscape, and its entire appearance. We start by dividing the time axis into four main years:

(A) in 1100 BC Christ/3,100 years ago.

(B) 874 e. Christ/Settlement of Iceland.

(C) 1890/end of the Little Ice Age.

(D) 2024/25.

It will be entirely in the hands of Alice Watterson (-see portfolio) to draw and paint and render Breidmörk i.e. The farm and countryside surrounded by Öraefajokull – Breidamerkurfjall – Máfabyggd – Breidamerkurjokull – Esjufjoll – Thverárfjall – Thverársfjolleggs – and Fellsfjall. All these landmarks in this wonderful valley and Breidamerkurskógur-forest stretches up the slopes of the countryside and probably all the way to its glacier edge, as we are likely to see. We visualize the big wide picture and „fly“ over the whole area and try to understand all these new elements in the landscape, -as well as taking a short intermediate jump to the present day, e.g. no existance of Glacier Lagoon etc. How is this scenario e.g. compared to „Drumbabót-forest“ in Fljótshlíd? But there it was possible to date Katla-jokulhlaup very accurately to the year 822, and that is good time before Settlement.

Here are video links to short films made by AW:

• Lindisfarne
• Burghead
• Dundee´s Law

Now we plan to visualize the changes from (A) to (B) to (C) and finally to (D) and we stop at each „main guard (a-b-c-d)“. We will still be using Alice Watterson’s artwork, as well as using old maps and high-quality aerial photographs from Icelandic Surveying. We should also celebrate that there are written sources in the form of chronicles and church books, and they have been kept either in oral tradition or in written sources of all kinds, and we must not forget the Icelandic Saga themselves, and in this regard, one of the most famous and ancient warriors of the Icelandic Sagas, Kári Sölmundarson and the main hero of Brennunjál’s saga, after Gunnar at Hlídarendi is slain, but he was a farmer at Breidamörk-farm.

We will weave into the timeline of the film’s plot, how Sigurdur Thórarinsson, a geologist, connected his volcanic ash layer research into archaeological research and how the methods of Icelandic archaeologists are changing and how the Icelandic time axis, supported by ash layers in soil-sediments, is unique on a global scale. Then we must not forget Sigurdur’s role, how he connects how the air temperature changes from Settlement to today’s modern weather research, and everything is more or less based on written descriptions and data that spans this period.

We will show and visualize changes (C) to (D) with 3D models, based on Knoff’s old maps and also the Danish Heritage maps and cut to live drone video and implement the landscape changes we have seen e.g. in „After Ice“ and „The great harmony of the sand“  and also „Glacial Land -World of Change“ from 2016 which Sjónhending produced both.

Conclusion and results:

The residents of East-Skaftafellsýsla and especially farmers in Sudursveit know the locale to Vatnajokull the best and have often had to adapt their way of life to the fleeting nature of the glacier. But now we experience a new tone, this documentary will cast a changed and innovative light on the face of the ancient „Breidamerkursveit“ surrounded by high mountains and a small sweet glacier far away and Breidamerkurskógur-forest and green grounds all around! What was the scenery like? When, what year was this? When will this all change? …-and why? …

The film will promote and mark the uniqueness of Vatnajokull National Park on how to depict the ancient vision of the landscape over 3,100 years ago, as we can infer in the light of the ancient birch drums that have now come from under Breidamerkurjokull.

The passage of time and the seed of the earth branch out over cliffs and black sands and the flora thrives and blooms in the warm rays of the sun today, just as it did long, long ago!

Timetable:

The project time frame will likely span 12 -18/24 months, as we plan to do this work in parallel with other projects that Sjónhending has in mind. The next one will probably be outdoor shooting in the summer/autumn of 2024, but painting and 3D graphics will happen when things are going well. Now, hopefully, samples from the birch drums will be sent as soon as possible for dating, but it depends to some extent on funding from the public sector, etc.

Funding and main partners:

The financing of the project is entirely based on Sjónhending/Sjónfilm’s own contribution and partners, which are: Thórbergssafn Museum at Hali c/o Thorbjorg and Fjolnir, South-East Nature Visitor Center c/o Snaevarr Gudmundsson, Research Center University of Iceland, Höfn in Hornafjördur c/o Thorvardur Árnason, and Sjónfilm ehf c/o Kristín Björg Thorsteinsdóttir & Gunnlaugur Thór Pálsson.

Once again, the main point and goal of the imaging is that we will strive to bring awareness and understanding to the visual side of glacial changes and increase our understanding of the nature of climate issues now in the 21st century.

(Concept/Experimental Film 60´)
Project at the initial stage and in further development.

(Documentary Film 52´)
Project at the initial stage and in further development.