Breathtaking Iceland - The Stunning Beauty of Vatnajökull National Park | Free Documentary Nature

[Music] way up north there is a mysterious island where vast areas of land are covered with perpetual ice iceland its landscape is rugged and torn by huge volcanoes and mighty waterfalls [Music] a few years ago fourteen percent of iceland's landmass was turned into a national park the biggest in europe it has a heart of ice the vatna yukul national park [Music] [Music] a reconnaissance flight over the perpetual eyes of the vatna yukul glacier it's magnus thomas job to monitor the biggest glacier in europe every four weeks as most volcanoes are located here deep below the ice and nobody knows when the next eruption may occur [Music] to being a pilot in iceland is actually quite interesting and i i think we have the best office view in the world and you always see something new possible and it's challenging also we have a lot of uncontrolled area and it's the weather is challenging of course can change in five minutes so we always have to be very very well prepared with your weather briefing the ice of the vatna yoko is up to 1 000 meters thick often you can only see from the air if volcanoes are starting to spit fire under the glacier with these flights that we're doing we do this about approximately uh every month to get but get pictures of the area and the uh i would say maybe the most challenging part is always getting in the right position the photos of the volcanic systems need to be taken from the same direction in order to be comparable job done but the way back can also be quite perilous as the warm layers of lava can cause changes in the thermal updraft [Music] it was kind of just dangerous to fly over it because of the warm air rising up from it and it caused a lot of purpose so we always we pilots tried to avoid going directly over it [Music] on average five volcanoes erupt on iceland per year the last eruption took place two years ago it's hard to tell which of the volcanoes will be next magnus thomas grew up near reykjavik iceland's capital as a child he saw the impact of the forces that are released during the eruption of a volcano his colleagues from reykjavik university will analyze the photos he took [Music] so now we're uploading the pictures to the university and uh hope that they uh they came out really good iceland is located near the arctic circle and is the biggest volcano island in the world in 2008 the biggest national park in europe was created here around the vadnayakul glacier it has a size of 14 000 square kilometers on its northern border are the great plains of the ascaya volcanic system [Music] [Music] volcanologists from reykjavik university headed by renowned geologist freistein siegmunsen are here to determine if a new eruption of the ascii is imminent the volcanoes in the water national park they they tend to to be quiet for uh many decades and then they erupt once in a while so there can be long periods of dormancy uh they are quite different we can have very explosive eruptions with tefra fall or us plume that spreads over large distance or we can have lava flows and the eruption in 2014 produced this very huge lava flow we are maybe worried that an explosive eruption could have more influence on people in europe because of the asp that can travel a long distance [Music] big volcanic eruptions aren't only a threat for iceland and air travel they could cause climate changes and destroy whole harvests in europe [Music] [Music] this is a leveling rod to do the leveling observations we will place it on on benchmarks and then we can measure accurately the elevation difference between two sides they work inside the caldera of the ascia volcano which erupted in 1961 for the last time [Music] we are trying to measure the pressure inside the volcano as it's changed the pressure increasing is a magma flowing into the volcano and we can do that by measuring the elevation difference precisely between shatter stations and the idea is that if there is new magma that comes in then the volcano will inflate like a balloon it goes off we can measure it with this technique with an accuracy of better than one millimeter so it's very precise so if one side moves upward an eruption is imminent the cooled lava is brittle there are many deep fissures in the ground [Music] after an eruption in 1875 a lake built inside the big caldera they need to hike for a few hours in order to reach the next measuring location this is a dangerous place here two years ago there was a major rockslide collapse of material into the lake creating a huge wave tsunami that came on land here reached an elevation of 30 meters above the the lake level so it was catastrophic but luckily no one was here life on iceland is influenced by shifts in the weather and the ground the first measurements are done now the geologists only need to reach their base camp in the middle of the volcanic area [Music] this hut is one of the very few locations in the national park where you can find refuge nobody was here for a whole year as it is only used for doing the measurements [Music] so it's a it's a small fact but it is good good shelter and it can be very windy lots of rain cold it can snow during the summertime but this is a good place the geologists immediately start their analysis of the data what's the ascia system status [Music] so we have discovered that oscar is deflating it is subsiding slightly by up to a few centimeters this signal has pressure decrease in the roots of the volcano it means that there is no inflow of new magma into the volcano things are safe things are stable here so we will now focus our attention on on parlor punka the subglacial volcano of main interest that is where we need to monitor and try to understand what will happen in the future but the geologists decide to rest a little before their next destination the neighboring volcano even at the height of summer temperatures may drop below zero out there after a day like this what we have experienced amazing landscape [Music] forces of nature and being able to to carry out high-level scientific research at the same time that's very unique and being with good friends in the highlands of iceland that is really great [Music] the rivers from the volcanic area swell more and more on their way to the arctic sea turning the coastal strip of this otherwise barren island deep green [Music] the most famous animals of the island live on this pasture the icelandic horses [Music] the two germans yasmina and katarina work at the hornhester farm when the vikings built their settlements in iceland the horses they brought here were their biggest helpers in this rugged and forbidding land they are still considered beings that connect man with the gods purebred icelandic horses are very much sought after and are traded internationally in iceland there is even a university for horse breeding [Music] i had worked here for a year and then applied to study at the university in holla i studied there for a year and the second year there starts in august i only arrived here four days ago but i'm planning the same omar umasson is the owner of the farm and one of the biggest horse breeders in iceland the most important thing for us is the character of our horses they are friendly and easy to handle [Music] and here they are consistent but still sensitive and wild [Music] and of course they've got a great temper the temperament on the gangnam right now i've got a new job for you ride over the land and check all the horses and foals to see if they're healthy mostly during the year the horses of the farm live in the wild but sometimes their well-being needs to be monitored quite often nobody really knows where they are and it's a long way to their pastures [Music] [Music] [Music] the young women can't ride through the rough terrain for more than two hours though it's important to rest once in a while they love their horses but they also grew fond of the people here [Music] the people here are quite confident they often do whatever they like that's the beauty of it all if they like to go riding they just do it and they're generally very easy going the days are long during the summer in iceland but if yasmina and katarina don't succeed in finding the horses soon they need to turn back as there is no way of spending the night out here [Music] finally they spot the herd are the animals in good health of course they can get injured and hurt their legs with all the rocky terrain and there are hierarchic encounters as well but the most common injuries out here in the wild are on their legs in order to properly check the horse's well-being they need to get closer the horses enjoy their freedom around here [Music] in germany we also try to allow our young horses as much freedom as possible on the biggest possible pastures but it's a really big difference compared to the distances here we rode for hours in order to look after them [Music] they appear to be fine they all seem healthy and they all eat well nothing to worry about [Music] not far from the horses pastures iceland's rugged mountains reach up to the sky [Music] pega dottier works as a ranger in the south of the national park what i think that is special about wagner national park is this combination of forces that are creating the the variety of landscape features we have so these forces are geothermal activity volcanoes earthquakes and glaciers she is especially interested in glaciers as they melted more rapidly during the past few years now she checks on hoffels yukul one of the big glacier tongues in the south you can see the lake here and you can see the gravel in front of it you don't see much vegetation on the gravel so we say oh it's quite it's not such a long time since since there has been either a lake or a glacier there here the eye seems to be melting faster too takes notes of the coordinates in order to compare the changes there always were two rivers on either side of this mountain but now it's only one and what you see is just an empty passage of glacier river but what does that mean is there less ice melting or did the water find another passageway the coal trace leads her to iceland's biggest glacier lagoon the ukulele salon [Music] here helga wants to find out how much of the glacier has melted away [Music] it's a biggest treasure lake in iceland and the reason for the lake for the reason for this area is because of the dramatic changes that are going on uh which is this is not it has not always been like this we have photos and measurements and around like during 1930 there was a glacier where we are now but why does the vatna yoko melt is it due to global warming or because there is an active volcano under the eyes but volcanic activity of course there are a lot of volcanoes active volcanoes underneath whatnot a good glacier and when there is an eruption underneath of course it's a there's a fire there's a there and they are melting the ice underneath the glacier around eight thousand square kilometers of land are covered by the vatnajukul's ice but europe's largest glacier has been dwindling faster and faster in the past 100 years [Music] i'm collecting data i'm taking photos when i'm at work and i go closer to the glacier of course i take photos and i try to take leafy's point to see okay this is where i am today and just collect because we know the changes are happening so fast and we just want to get those information where the glacier is from time to time helga hopes that her data will be of help for finding the cause for the melting eyes but one thing is certain it does melt and so the millennia old eye slowly drifts into the north atlantic to thaw [Music] iceland's glaciers are majestic still not only the rangers and scientists are fascinated by the ice german henry palvolf is training for his exam as a glacier guide denny matson from sweden is his coach today [Music] all right so fabiake is the glacier and it means translates into falling glacier and what's cool about this one that is pretty unique is that it has one active part which is the upper section and one passive part which is the lower section henry originates from berlin and has been working as a tourist guide on the island for eight years now the exams to become a certified glacier guide are tough today it's his last training tour before the exam [Music] it's much harder to walk up there than down here there are quite flat plateaus below with climbing irons we can walk almost like on regular ground but in the rugged areas up there there are many crevices in the ice that are almost invisible and therefore very dangerous up there you can only walk on marked tracks without an experienced glacier guide it's a bad idea to do otherwise vatna yokult's glacier tongues are unpredictable it thaws in certain places which results in deep crevices one misstep and you could fall into the abyss these glaciers seem both impressive and perilous to me you can see how deep the crevices go down if you get close enough it's quite something [Music] but the biggest threat can be the weather as it changes nowhere faster than in iceland [Music] okay henry so what we're going to do now is going to practice set up a hand line it's a way to make it easier for the groups to travel down and up steeper sections of the glacier so what i want you to do is go up there set up a hand line with some handholds the alpine butterfly that i know you know and then we'll show we'll actually use the hand line for going up as well so [Music] danny matson checks the safety leash it's all good but then the weather changes what brought the german to the icelandic wilderness [Music] i spend much more time in nature than i did in germany and i've grown very fond of it i didn't have any of this before i worked in an office grew up in the city and never came into contact with something like this when i first came here it instantly felt like home and that was such a strong feeling that i wanted to live here [Music] most important discipline for a glacier guide is climbing up an ice wall okay so welcome to the wall this is our challenge for today we're gonna climb this one we have this beautiful waterfall to our right ice climbing is all about footwork so that's what we're gonna do i'm sure you'll be fine climbing this wall if you haven't worked at a glacier for a while you may get out of practice especially if you don't practice your knots and work with ropes it needs regular practice i haven't done it for quite some time that's why we're about to train that now it's the nuts and bolts of working at a glacier because our life or the life of our clients depends on it we can't risk our own lives or the lives of others better safe than sorry put the rope in and it's quite nicely done here you have two pictures on the atc you have one hand that should go down to your gray hand and then the climber to go off to the anchor and then down to the climber during the exam this part especially mustn't go wrong [Music] okay [Music] you could easily lose your footing here that's what this safety rope is for henry still has some time left for training before his exam [Music] 12 of iceland's landmass are covered by glaciers and there are volcanoes below that left big gaps in the land throughout the past centuries [Music] but even the most rugged volcanic landscape eventually turns green again as we can see at the northern border of vatnajokull national park [Music] for many years brindus pittus dortia has been living here with her family and other beings that the icelanders call huldufolk the hidden people [Music] i just want to bring a gift from my home to the hidden people where we are going to make a connection to them and they would like that had make an effort for some contact [Music] believing in elves and trolls is quite common amongst the icelanders sometimes roads make a turn without any apparent sense they were built around elven territory [Music] today bryndis visits a magical place a valley of west tu adalur the elves and the hidden people they live around here and they like the blend of the green areas and the rocks and the stones so that is a contrast what they like because that gives them opportunity to live in the camouflage of the nature so they don't stand out so much it is rumored that around 80 percent of iceland's population believe in the existence of elves trolls and hidden beings this is a very typical scenery of where the hiltifolk is living and both the stones and the grass and the trees together and you can see this in many places in iceland very typical and there are here are three families living together and they are all as farmers and [Music] they have a big families like eight children nine children this belief is deeply rooted in the landsmiths [Music] it's a holy realm the kia kyan the elven cathedral they're not good for you for a long time i would never put up stone like this in my pocket no but it's uh it's good in small amounts it's an and belief in iceland if you put a stone like this in front of your house it it keeps thieves away so it's a it's a massive energy but it's both good and bad you know you can balance a little bit of if it's coming a lot of energy from crack underground you can balance it by putting this kind of stone [Music] over millennia the river that is fed by the vana ukral glacier has eaten its way deep into the rock forming a canyon and similar to humans the hidden people settled alongside its walls only people like brenda's can see them [Music] the hidden people look just like us women and and men and children boys and girls and they just dress you can see the differences in their dresses they dress like maybe three four hundred years ago and the girls always wear dresses not pants and yeah they live a very simple farm life [Music] the belief in those mythical creatures is connected with the deep belief in the forces of nature and according to brindis this force can be felt nowhere better than at the dettifoss europe's biggest waterfall [Music] do the elves and the hidden people have a stronger connection with nature do they feel the dangers it may induce i think if there would be eruption or a volcanic activity you would have to be the elves and hidden people friends or have been in contact with them before if you are supposed to be get a notice before they don't go and ask they tell you without any connection but they usually don't want to interfere because we have our own life and they have their own life but they would maybe sneak into your dreams and tell you to be prepared that something is going to happen [Music] the untamed power of water and the volcanoes pose a permanent threat to iceland but they are also a big opportunity for its inhabitants for many years they have been producing energy from natural sources [Music] huge power plants were set up near the national park using the hot steam from volcanic depths [Music] big reservoirs provide power plants with water at the eastern border of the national park a power plant was built with tunnels that were 80 kilometers long arnie odenson was there when the structure was built i think it has changed a lot before people relied on fishing that was the main industry and it is still a very important industry in the area but with the smelter and this station here that provides the energy for the smelter i think there are about 700 or 800 people that are working directly or indirectly for for this industry many jobs were created but there was also criticism about the impact the projects had on nature andy odenson has to make sure that the power plant is safe for the environment and that it works without any problems [Music] one of the turbines isn't fed with water well normally there would be water in this channel here but right now there is some maintenance work going on inside this house and i think we should just go and check out what is going on here the kara yuka power plant is one of the biggest water power plants in europe [Music] water from several reservoirs feeds the canals that lead to the power plant the floodgates of the canals are under steady pressure and require constant maintenance in the spring and early summer when the water level in in household reservoir is low we get a lot of run of water from this area a lot of snow in this area so when the spring comes then we get a lot of water in this era so it's very important for us in the spring especially then the floodgates are opened again over a decline of 600 meters the water rushes in direction of the power plant arnie ordenson needs to go back into the mountain it's an 11 kilometer drive through the tunnel to get to the core of the power plant where the turbines are propelled by the water the total capacity of this station is 690 megawatts and really it all starts up in the glacier in wagner this year water ice and fire determine the life on this volcanic island near the arctic circle [Music] it's a new day at work for volcano pilot magnus thorma at the airfield of mivaden so it's really nice to have feistem coming on board it's nice to see him again [Music] of course a really famous geologist [Music] like every month magnus thorma prepares his cessna for his exploration flight over the volcanoes that hide below the glaciers the weather couldn't be better siegmunsen is a professor for geology at reykjavik university and one of the leading volcanologists in the world [Music] hi nice to see you very good good so for the for this trip i i so i want to fly here from the north i want to fly uh towards the asca volcano to look for chances in particular at the lake here any overall chances in the world coming zone if we go further south i want to look for the powder punka volcano there have been some more earthquakes so we want to see if we can see anything unusual from the earth first he returns to the huge ascii volcanic system which he recently monitored he is convinced that only steady monitoring of the volcanic activities will lead to a fairly precise prediction of eruptions [Music] [Music] the crater of asca is 100 kilometers away [Music] the immense size of this volcano can be observed best from the air [Music] [Music] the scientists set course to the currently most dangerous volcano it erupted in 2014 but the geologist fears a much bigger eruption freistein zickmanson and his team have determined a volcano with a crater size of 80 square kilometers under the ice of the vatnajokull [Music] or subsidence on the ice evidence for new geothermal activity under the ice that can mean no heating not the volcano but at the moment the bada-boonga seems to sleep peacefully under the ice [Music] magma is moving inside this volcanoes i as a scientist i'm interested in trying to understand these magma moments and have been devoting my career to that at the same time it is very beneficial for all public here in iceland and europe and the world to know what is going on because when the next eruption happens [Laughter] [Music] and his team cannot prevent such a huge eruption under the glacier's eyes but they are getting closer and closer in regards to a precise prediction [Music] you

Channel: Free Documentary - Nature

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Keywords: Free Documentary, Documentaries, Full documentary, HD documentary, documentary - topic, documentary (tv genre), nature documentary, Free Documentary Nature, Nature, Wildlife Documentary, Wildlife, Animals, Animal Documentary, Iceland, Iceland Documentary, Vatnajökull, Vatnajökull National Park, Iceland Nature, Iceland Nature Documentary, Iceland Volcano, Glacier, Iceland Glacier

Id: mREZQHoS4Oo

Length: 44min 13sec (2653 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 17 2022