This article was taken from the January 2015 issue of WIRED magazine. Be the first to read WIRED's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
This is Iceland's Fúlakvisl river, whose delta channels volcanic soil and golden iron oxide. You'd better take a look while you can, as it's disappearing fast. The Fúlakvisl receives its water from the Langjökull glacier, Iceland's second largest, which has been losing mass for almost two decades due to global warming. "It's been losing more than 1.5 metres every year since 1996", says Finnur Pálsson, a glaciologist from the Institute of Earth Sciences at the University of Iceland.
Pálsson and other researchers have used predictive models to show that by the end of the century, the glacier could be down to 20 per cent of its mass. "These glaciers sustain life in the Arctic," says Hans Strand, who took the photo. "They provide a constant water flow -- and when that disappears, of course, life also disappears."
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
