Iceland has 109 outlet glaciers, 73 mountain glaciers, five valley glaciers and 21 surge-type glaciers, plus 55 cirque glaciers, ice caps and snow patches—and all have been counted and named. In a country about the size of the state of Virginia, residents have been observing and documenting their wealth of glaciers for centuries.

The glaciers’ names and histories are found in the book Geographic Names of Iceland’s Glaciers: Historic and Modern, published by the U.S. Geological Survey and the Iceland National Energy Authority. In addition to historical records that date back eight centuries, much of the information is gleaned from aerial and ground photographs and satellite images. The book, known as “professional paper 1746,” is available in print (259 pages) and in PDF format as one large file or as a group of smaller files at http://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/1746/ 

In a press release, the co-publishers of the book say that “science-fiction readers (and moviegoers) will quickly identify Snaefellsjokull as the glacier-capped volcano whose summit crater was the entry point in Jules Verne´s Journey to the Center of the Earth.” (The movie versions of Verne’s book were discussed in the Popular Culture and the Polar Regions column in the April 2008 issue of Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears.)

 Another site that may be recognized by moviegoers is the glacial lake Jökulsarlon, in front of the Breiðamerkurjökull outlet glacier from Iceland´s largest ice cap. The lake was the setting for sequences in two of the James Bond movies.

 During the last half of the 20^th century, six named glaciers have disappeared.