Sometimes Iceland really lives up to its name. For instance, in the picture above, the entire country is basically covered in snow and ice. With one notable exception. See that big black dot in the middle? No, not in the lower left--that's the largest natural lake in Iceland, Lake Þingvallavatn, which is a favorite for snorkelers and scuba divers. We're talking about the beauty mark in the center-right, which is an absolutely massive lava flow originating from a fissure of the volcano Bárðarbunga.
Soon, visitors to Iceland will be able to head inside a man-made ice cave and get an inside look into how glaciers work. The 1,640-foot long tunnel is currently being carved into the Langjökull glacier by engineers of the Ice Cave-Iceland project. When complete, glacier enthusiasts will be able to see the deep blue ice characteristic of glaciers and view the inside of a crevasse without falling into one.
Now Iceland is warning airlines that another volcano named Bárðarbunga may be about to blow. On Monday scientists registered the area’s largest earthquake since 1996, and they’ve spotted magma welling beneath the ground, causing Iceland’s Met office to issue a code orange risk level to the aviation industry, Reuters reports. On the scale, which comes from the International Civil Aviation Organization, the only thing riskier than orange is red. Now, the Iceland Review reports that areas north of the volcano are being evacuated.
The world can seem like a mighty small place, but nowhere more so than in Iceland, a country of 320,000 people where getting it on with a relative isn't even a question - the question is, how distantly? Thanks to a new app that warns users if they're too closely related, Icelandic daters can now go to bed feeling a little more assured that they won't eventually run into their one night stand at a family reunion.
