Iceland: Photographers shoot giant ice caves. What's special about Iceland's topography and climate?

Iceland is an island country in the North Atlantic. It is located at the intersection of the Atlantic Ocean and the Arctic Ocean. It is one of the five Nordic countries. Although Iceland has a high latitude, the North Atlantic warm current mainly flows through its south, so the south belongs to a temperate maritime climate. Affected by the warm current, the temperature is not low in winter, with an average temperature of about 0℃ and a summer temperature of 7℃ ~ 12℃. It is located near the center of low pressure in Iceland. The weather is changeable and windy. Cyclones have brought abundant rainfall to Iceland, with an average annual rainfall of 65,438+0,000-2,000 mm in the southwest and west, and 400-600 mm in the north and northeast.

The whole of Iceland is a bowl-shaped highland, surrounded by coastal mountains and the central plateau. Most of them are platforms, 400-800 meters high, and some peaks are as high as 1300- 1700 meters. The highest peak in Iceland is Warner-Darschnuk Mountain (2 1 19 meters). The lowlands have a small area. There are marine plains and glacial alluvial plains in the west and southwest of the island, accounting for about 7% of the total island area. The coastline without glaciers is irregular, with many fjords and bays. Other coastal areas are mainly beaches, and offshore sandbars form lagoons. There are more than 100 volcanoes in Iceland, and Warner-Dar Schnuck volcano is the highest peak in Iceland, with an altitude of 2 1 19 meters. Iceland is almost entirely built on volcanic rocks, and most of the land cannot be reclaimed. 1963 to 1967, volcanic activity along the southwest coast formed an island of about 2. 1 square kilometer. Iceland has the largest number of hot springs in the world, so it is called the country of ice and fire.

Since the late Early Miocene, Iceland has been a volcanic island, which is formed by the accumulation of upper mantle materials spilled from the rift valley in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The rocks that make up Iceland are volcanic rocks, basalt is the most widely distributed, andesite and rhyolite. There are many volcanoes on the island, known as the polar volcanic island, with 200-300 volcanoes and 40-50 active volcanoes. The main volcanoes are Laki volcano, Haikkala volcano and catra volcano, and Iceland has the largest number of hot springs in the world. There are about 250 alkaline hot springs on the island. The largest hot spring can produce 200 liters of spring water per second.

With an area of103,000 square kilometers, Iceland is the second largest island in Europe. Iceland is the westernmost country in Europe. It is located in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, bordering the Arctic Circle in the north. One eighth of Iceland is covered by glaciers, with an area of 13000 square kilometers and a coastline of 4970 kilometers. It borders the Greenland Sea in the north, the Danish Strait across the sea in the northwest and the Norwegian Sea in the northeast. Iceland has many fountains, waterfalls, lakes and fast-flowing rivers. The largest river is Sejurso River, with a total length of 227 kilometers. Iceland has a cold temperate maritime climate with changeable climate. Due to the influence of the North Atlantic warm current, it is milder than other places in the same latitude. The sunshine time is long in summer and short in winter. Aurora can be seen in autumn and early winter. Iceland is called volcanic island, Kirishima, permafrost island and ice-fire island. Rivers radiate from the central plateau, and the main rivers are Fei Odle Glacier. Iceland is not only the center of the Quaternary ice sheet, but also a modern glacier on the plateau, mainly shield-shaped ice cap glaciers and a few iceberg glaciers, accounting for 1 1.5% of the whole island. There are Votner Ice Sheet, Lange Ice Sheet, Hoves Ice Sheet and Mida Glacier. The Watner ice sheet covers an area of 8,450 square kilometers and its thickness ranges from several hundred meters to 2 kilometers. It is the largest glacier in the world except Antarctica and Greenland.