Three-day trip to Southeast Iceland
Last week, the 2025 cohort of GRÓ LRT fellows went on a three-day excursion to the south and southeast of Iceland. Even though the weather was not at its best, the fellows and staff enjoyed the nature and the good company. The theme of the excursion was land degradation, restoration, and climate change.
The trip started at the Visitor Centre of the Vatnajökull National Park in Skaftafell where one of the park’s ranger guided the fellows up to Skaftafellsjökull glacier’s edge. There they could see firsthand how the increased glacier’s retreat for the last one hundred years has sculpted the landscape and how vegetation has steadily reclaimed the terrain as the ice has withdrawn.
In Höfn in Hornafjörður, the fellows met with local experts from the University of Iceland Research Center and South East Iceland Nature Research Center, to discuss, among other things, the effects of climate change on Iceland´s glaciers and the evolving patterns of birdlife across the region.
During the excursion, the fellows visited more notable places, such as the cultural Heritage Museum of the beloved Icelandic writer, Thorbergur Thordarson at Hali in Suðursveit, Hoffell Visitor Centre as well as Þorvaldseyri farm. In all those visits, the fellows could see how the harsh natural environment has affected the local communities throughout the years. Research on current climate change effects are prominent in the area.
Along with those informative visits, the fellows where able to enjoy the main tourist sites through the south coast such as the Skógafoss Waterfall and the Glacier Lagoon as well as the geothermal sites at Reykir horticultural school.
