The ice is leaving Iceland

Its Prime Minister calls for greater action on climate change as she bids farewell to Ok glacier

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Eyjafjallajokull, Iceland's sixth-largest glacier, gained worldwide recognition when the volcano lurking under it erupted in 2010. Large levels of volcanic ash caused air travel disruptions in Europe, and news reporters across the world struggled with the difficult pronunciation of Eyjafjallajokull, much to the amusement of us native speakers.

A less-known and less-tongue-twisting glacier is Ok, which is on a mountaintop in western Iceland. But Ok is no longer a glacier. The ice field that covered the mountain in 1900 - close to 15.5 sq km - has now been replaced by a crater lake.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on August 21, 2019, with the headline The ice is leaving Iceland. Subscribe