Austari-Jökulsá

Austari-Jökulsá is a glacial river in the north of Iceland. After the confluence with Vestari-Jökulsá it forms the Héraðsvötn.

Austari-Jökulsá

Name

The name means Eastern Glacial River,[1] in comparison to the Western Glacial River (Vestari-Jökulsá) which is situated more to the west.

Course of the river

Some glacial outlet streams of the big ice cap Hofsjökull confluence up in the highland to form the glacial river Austari-Jökulsá. The river discharge is rather important with 60-100 m3/sec in the summer and 20-30 m3/sec in wintertime. A flood went up to 320 m3/sec.[2]

Because of this, the river which has no waterfalls had a bad reputation and was/is very difficult to ford. [2]

In 1970, a bridge was built near Laugafell.[2]

Sports
Rafting on Austari-Jökulsá

Today, the river with its fierce currents is popular for rafting tours. [1]

References
  1. https://grapevine.is/mads/2017/07/18/river-rafting-up-north-battling-the-beast-of-the-east/ Johanna Eriksson: River rafting up north, battling the beast of the east. In: Reykjavík Grapevine July 18, 2017. Retrieved: 25 July 2020.
  2. Íslandshandbókin. Náttura, saga og sérkenni. Reykjavík 1989, p. 369


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