Jökulsárlón Iceberg Lagoon
Jökulsárlón is a glacial lagoon considered as one of the natural wonders of Iceland, located at the head of Breiðamerkurjökull, an outlet glacier flowing of the Vatnajökull ice cap on the south-east part of Iceland. Vatnajökull has an area of 8,100 km2 or about 8% of the whole surface of Iceland.Unique natural wonder
In 1932 the area of the present lagoon was beneath the glacier, but it developed into a lake after the glacier mass started receding.
Large icebergs calve into the lake and now up to 100 m of ice break off from the glacier every year, increasing its size enormously. The size of it has been increasing fourfold since the 1970s. The surface of the lake is at sea level.
The lagoon’s depth is impressive. It is 248 m deep (76 stories deep!) and has recently become the deepest lake of Iceland. These depth makes it possible to contain such large icebergs, as cannot be found anywhere else. The lagoon contains salt because it consists of water from the glacier and sea from the Atlantic ocean.
Fjallsárlón Lagoon
Just 11 km south of Jökulsárlón there’s another impressive glacier lagoon called Fjallsárlón. Since the lake is not as deep as Jökulsárlón, the icebergs are much smaller, but it’s a very beautiful location as well. One of Iceland’s most powerful volcanoes, Öræfajökull, holds the ice mass that reaches ground at the lagoon. The highest peak of Iceland is there too, Hvannadalshnúkur, with an elevation of 2,110 m.
Shaken not stirred
Jökulsárlón has been the footage location of some famous Hollywood movies. This is not surprising due to the lagoon’s unique natural beauty and surreal framing, which makes it a particularly suitable setting for adventure movies. Roger Moore appeared there as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. A View to a Kill was Mr Moore’s seventh Bond appearance, and last. The film was released in 1985 but the production started on 23 June 1984 in Iceland.
Roger Moore is not the only actor who has appeared as James Bond by the lagoon. Pierce Brosnan also concluded his Bond role here in Iceland, when the twentieth film in the series Die Another Day was released in 2002. It was Mr Brosnan’s fourth Bond movie.
Batman Begins is an epic superhero film released in 2005. Filming began in March 2004 at the Vatnajökull Glacier, including the lagoon. Our glacier stood in for “Bhutan”, a Buddhist kingdom on the Himalayas. The film premiered on June 17, 2005, in the United States and Canada in 3858 theaters. This date is interesting since Iceland formally became a Republic on June 17, 1944, with Sveinn Björnsson as its first president. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best cinematography and three BAFTA awards (British Academy of Film and Television Arts).
The action-adventure thrilling film Tomb Raider with Angelina Jolie was also filmed by the lagoon. The film was published in the summer of 2001. On 13 November 2006 The American TV program Good Morning America was broadcasted live from south-east Iceland. The broadcast is reported to have been watched by four million people.
The Canadian-Icelandic movie Beowulf & Grendel from 2005 was filmed in Iceland, including Jökulsárlón. The film was released September 14, 2005 in Toronto international film festival. It is a fantasy adventure film partly based on the epic poem Beowulf and directed by Sturla Gunnarsson.
Jökulsárlón has also been the stage for some music videos. In 2014, a Swedish electronic multimedia project called “iamamiwhoami” filmed their music video Vista in Jökulsárlón. In 2015, the song Gerua from the “Shak Rukh Khan” film was filmed by the lagoon.