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“The world floor temperature has elevated by circa 1 diploma Celsius on common since pre-industrial instances and significantly extra within the Arctic,” I learn on an data signal illustrating how glaciers across the lake have retreated since 1890. Over the final 50 years, the lake close to Iceland’s southeastern coast has quadrupled in measurement.
Just like thousands and thousands of different vacationers, it was my fascination for its otherworldly panorama and pure wonders that attracted me right here this August. Yet because the tourism sector booms, it’s exactly that nature that’s present process irreversible change, forcing the island to rethink the way it attracts tourism — and manages its affect.
Iceland expects some 2.3 million vacationers this yr, practically all arriving by aircraft at its solely worldwide airport, constructed by the U.S. army throughout World War II. That quantity is just projected to develop within the so-called land of fireside and ice, which is residence to a few of the most energetic volcanoes on earth — however to fewer than 400,000 human inhabitants.
At the identical time, glacial soften throughout the globe is accelerating as a result of local weather change. With ice sheets masking some 11 p.c of its floor, the North Atlantic island as soon as fully lined in ice is especially affected. Since the start of the century, Iceland has misplaced some 750 sq. kilometers of glacier — across the measurement of the Asian metropolis state of Singapore.
“People are coming to go to nature and to expertise the distinctive landscapes and … see that significantly the glacier setting right here is affected closely by local weather change. You see it already now,” stated Hans Welling, a researcher on the University of Iceland who research how local weather change is affecting Iceland’s tourism trade.
Climate adjustments
Curiosity about Iceland’s waterfalls, geysers and scorching springs had additionally introduced my U.S.-based pal and me to the nation. Having bonded over climbing journeys to the Highlands throughout our college days in Scotland, driving the well-known Ring Road, exploring lunar-like lava fields and pitching our tent within the midnight solar had been a long-shared dream.
