Debris flows in the Gleivarhjalli area in northwestern Iceland occurred after a sudden and intensive snowmelt period during 10–12 June, 1999. The area, in the northwestern part of the town of Ísafjörvur, was chosen for a detailed study. Meteorological data and bedrock conditions, triggering mechanisms and geomorphological and human impacts were examined. This paper describes and emphasises the role of rapid snowmelt as a mechanism for the release of debris flows in a subpolar basaltic fjord setting. Post‐event mapping of erosional and depositional landforms showed strong geomorphic impacts of debris flows and their role in mass transfer in a mountainous environment. The estimated denudation rate for the singleevent is 0.29 mm/km2. The use of a new lichen growth curve provides relative dating of previous unreported events. Finally, the paper estimates the mean return period for debris‐flow events in the Gleivarhjalli area as 4–5 years, thus constituting a serious threat to the community.

International audienceIn de-glaciated areas, para-glaciation (i.e. the conditioning of landscapes by prior glaciation) has often been considered a major predisposing factor in landslide occurrence; its consequences have been particularly well identified at a fine scale (especially on bedrock jointing). Hitherto, the relative impacts of para-glaciation on hillslope dynamics at a regional scale had nevertheless not been quantified statistically. We examine Skagafjörður area (northern Iceland) where landslides are widespread (at least 108 were mapped in an area of c. 3000km2).We compare the role of para-glaciation (debuttressing, influence of post-glacial rebound) with that of classic factors (topography, lithology, etc.) in landslide occurrence and location, using a spatial analysis based on a chi-square test. On the one hand, the results highlight that landslides are over-represented in areas where post-glacial rebound was at its maximum, with a stronger concentration of landslides in the northern part of the fjord. On the other hand, the distribution of landslides did not show any clear relationship with the pattern of glacial debuttressing. Tschuprow coefficient highlights that the influence of post-glacial rebound on landslide location is higher than the combined influence of slope gradient, curvature or geological structure. This result is supported by our initial evidence for the timing of landslides in the area: most landslides occurred during the first half of the Holocene, and a period of hillslope instability was initiated when the post-glacial uplift was at its maximum. Finally, the mechanisms that link post-glacial rebound and landsliding as well as the geomorphic impacts of landslides, are discussed

The Höfðahólar rock avalanche, in the Skagafjörður area of northern Iceland, was investigated on the basis of a geomorphological analysis of its landforms and close surrounding environment. Thanks to sound chronological constraints (14C dating from birch remnants in peat areas that developed within depressions over the chaotic rock-avalanche deposit, tephrochronological sequences resulting from subsequent ash fallouts over the deposit, calibration of an age–depth model of peats and previously dated raised beaches), we define the rock-avalanche implementation with a wider timeframe between 10,200 and 7975 cal. yr BP and with a narrower frame between 9000 and 8195 ± 45 cal. yr BP. Such a well constrained timing proposes one of the most precise datings of an early-Holocene major slope failure in Iceland. This result fits well in the known chronology of the deglaciation in this area and in the prevailing Icelandic theory of a generalized phase of landsliding that occurred shortly after the deglaciation of the area. The main driver for the rock-avalanche occurrence is associated to a paraglacial origin; glacio-isostatic rebound, associated to rockwall debuttressing, is thought to be the main factor in the genesis of this Boreal major disequilibrium.

Abstract. Fine examples of both conjugate and nonconjugate isolated auroral arcs were observed at two geomagnetically conjugate stations near L = 6, Syowa Station in Antarctica and Husafell in Iceland on September 12, 1988. These events exhibited some interesting characteristics. An auroral loop structure that appeared in both hemispheres was ---2.0 times larger in the north-south direction at Syowa than at Husafell. This scale difference is greater than expected from the difference in geographic and geomagnetic (IGRF) coordinates between the two points of observation. However, temporal and spatial variations in the loop structures were almost identical in both hemispheres. After the disappearance of the loop structure, closely conjugate auroras were formed. Nonconjugate auroral features appeared again at Syowa on the poleward side, while the equatorward auroras maintained conjugacy. The nonconjugate aurora at Syowa then began to break up, showing fast moving vortex-like structures (auroral spirals). At this time, all auroral features at Husafell seemed to have their conjugate counterparts in equatorward auroras at Syowa and none exhibited rapid motions. These conjugate auroras at Husafell were gradually extending poleward, while the corresponding features at Syowa were compressed toward the equator and shrinking in size. The onset of auroral breakup was about one minute earlier at Syowa than at Husafell. The nonconjugate auroral features were reflected in corresponding magnetic field variations on the ground. The events summarized above give interesting clues to the development and decay of auroral conjugacy and the question why the beginning of auroral breakup is not simultaneous at conjugate stations. The time lag and nonconjugacy of auroral breakup in conjugate areas suggests that the triggering source of auroral breakup was not located near the equatorial plane in the magnetosphere but most likely in a localized region near the ionosphere in the southern hemisphere. The nonconjugate auroral spirals also suggest the existence of asymmetrical field-aligned currents.

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On the 20th September 2012, a large debris slide occurred in the Móafellshyrna Mountain in the Tröllaskagi peninsula, central north Iceland. Our work describes and discusses the relative importance of the three factors that may have contributed to the failure of the slope: intense precipitation, earthquake activity and thawing of ground ice. We use data from weather stations, seismometers, witness reports and field observations to examine these factors. The slide initiated after an unusually warm and dry summer followed by a month of heavy precipitation. Furthermore, the slide occurred after three seismic episodes, whose epicentres were located ~60km NNE of Móafellshyrna Mountain. The main source of material for the slide was ice-rich colluvium perched on a topographic bench. Blocks of ice-cemented colluvium slid and then broke off the frontal part of the talus slope, and the landslide also involved a component of debris slide, which mobilized around 312,000-480,000m (as estimated from field data and aerial images of erosional morphologies). From our analysis we infer that intense precipitation and seismic activity prior to the slide are the main preparatory factors for the slide. The presence of ice-cemented blocks in the slide's deposits leads us to infer that deep thawing of ground ice was likely the final triggering factor. Ice-cemented blocks of debris have been observed in the deposits of two other recent landslides in northern Iceland, in the Torfufell Mountain and the Árnesfjall Mountain. This suggests that discontinuous mountain permafrost is degrading in Iceland, consistent with the decadal trend of increasing atmospheric temperature in Iceland. This study highlights a newly identified hazard in Iceland: landslides as a result of ground ice thaw. Knowledge of the detailed distribution of mountain permafrost in colluvium on the island is poorly constrained and should be a priority for future research in order to identify zones at risk from this hazard.

Most studies focusing on landslide spatial analysis have considered the relationships between predictors and landslide occurrence as fixed effects. Yet spatially varying relationships, i.e. non-stationarity, often occur in any spatial data set and should be theoretically considered in statistical models for a better fit. In Skagafjö rður, a landslide-rich north-south oriented area located in northern Iceland, we investigated whether spatial nonstationarity in the relationships between paraglacial variables (glacio-isostatic rebound and post-glacial debuttressing, both captured in this area by latitude) and landslide locations is detectable. To explore the non-stationarity of factors that predispose landslide occurrence, we performed two logistic regression models, one global (GLR) and the other enabling the regression parameters to vary locally (geographically weighted

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