EarthWatch: Iceland’s Longest Fjord
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Eyjafjörður is the longest fjord in Iceland.
Produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute’s Office of Public Outreach in collaboration with the NASA Earth Observatory: https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/
- NASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey: https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/146657/icelands-longest-fjord
- Image of the Day story by Adam Voiland
- Adaptation to ViewSpace by Claire Blome, Margaret W. Carruthers, and Dani Player
- Music from Music for Nonprofits
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Text, Earth Watch, Exploring the blue planet by satellite. Earth Observatory. Earth Observatory dot nasa dot gov. Operational Land Imager, Landsat 8 satellite.
Iceland's Longest Fjord. More than 100 fjords, submerged valleys that reach inland from the sea, are found within Iceland. July 26, 2017.
Eyjafjörður, which lies on the country's northern coast, is Iceland's longest fjord.
Eyjafjörður is labeled on the map. Text, it spans more than 60 kilometers, 40 miles from its mouth to Akureyri, a city known as Iceland's northern capital.
The fjord was formed by thousands of years of glacial activity.
When this area was cooler and icier, glaciers carved long, narrow valleys as they flowed over land toward the sea.
Over time, rising sea levels filled the valley to create the fjord.
Eyjafjörður is also a destination for whales, which feed on the plankton in its nutrient-rich waters.
South of the fjord, where the glacial valley is above sea level, farms are concentrated. An arrow labeled Akureyri points to farmland south of Eyjafjörður
Text, This is one of the few areas in the rugged, rocky terrain of northern Iceland with a significant amount of farmland.
To learn more, go to earth observatory dot nasa dot gov.