Monday, 24th January 2011
Entering the Enchanted Realm
by Christian Klepp
This image is from the 12 day winter tour around Iceland together with Orvaratli.
Entering the deep blue of this 50 m (164 ft) long, 10 m (33 ft) wide and 1.8 m (6 ft) high ice cave on the frozen lagoon of the Svinafellsjokull glacier in Skaftafell, Iceland caused an awe-inspiring atmosphere. This up to 1000 years old snow has metamorphosed into highly pressurized glacier ice that contains almost no air bubbles. Thus it absorbs the visible light despite the scattered shortest blue fraction, giving it its distinct deep blue waved appearance. This cavity in the glacier ice formed as a result of a glacial mill, or moulin. Rain and meltwater on the glacier surface is channeled into streams that enter the glacier at crevices. The waterfall melts a hole into the glacier while the ponded water drains towards lower elevations by forming long ice caves with an outlet at the terminus of the glacier. The fine grained sediments in the water along with wind blown sediments cause the frozen meltwater stream to appear in a muddy colour while the top of the cave exhibits the deep blue colour. Due to the fast movement of the glacier of about 1 m per day over uneven terrain this ice cave cracked up at its end into a deep vertical crevice, called cerrac. This causes the indirect daylight to enter the ice cave from both ends resulting in homogeneous lighting of the ice tunnel.
Equipment: Canon 5D MkII, Canon L 16-35 mm, f/16, 30 sec, ISO 50, tripod
Christian Klepp
Website: www.lichtjahre.eu
Entering the Enchanted Realm by Christian Klepp was photo of the day on Monday, 24th January 2011. It is tagged Ice, Iceland. You can leave a comment below.
30 Comments
Suzie
I love the texture of the ice on the ceiling.
Stanza
This is extraordinarily beautiful, bravo!!!
Johan Wong
this is just awesome!
Anurag
Breathtakingly Beautiful!!
Nico De Pasquale
such an incredible scenery!
fantastic tones
Michael
Amazing sight, thanks for sharing the view.
Heidi Anne Morris
WOW incredible sight
AlfonsoPaz
WOW. Astonishing! Thanks for sharing.
rabbitkat
Breathtaking! Thanks for sharing this, it’s impossibly beautiful, and I imagine it is something you’ll carry with you for a very long time.
Rajib Singha
Fantastic!
Örvar Atli
Beautiful image Christian. Very well composed with interesting details throughout the whole image.
Guy Nevills
“WOW” that is breathtaking and awesomely beautiful.
Mario Fiorucci
WOW incredible sight
This is extraordinarily beautiful, bravo!!!
Regards
Mario
Pat
Absolutely the most beautiful and fascinating sight I think I have ever seen. So glad it is the photo of the day!!
Richard Dart
What a wonder. Thanks for taking me there.
Shell
Iceland is on my wish list of places to visit and this image has just bumped it up to the top!! I am completely captivated by this photo…the colors, the texture, the beauty, the story behind the shot…mesmerizing to say the least! Very nice work and thanks for creating such excitement deep in my soul…love it!!
Julie
From Sapphire to Aquamarine the blues here are gemlike in quality, thanks so much for sharing this Icy Blue Brilliance with us.
Marie Dunphy Harding
This had to be one incredible sight to behold and you captured it beautifully to share with Earth Shots; my compliments and thanks!
Melissa S
Stunning!
Jacqueline Deely
What an amazing sight to see and an awesome capture!
Mary Ann
This is incredible! Thanks for taking this shot!!!
Teresa
This is an absolutely beautiful setting and picture. Congratulatlions!!
Laura Milholland
On first glance I thought this was artificially lit – completely amazing to find it is another of nature’s wonderful and perfect gifts! Thanks for bringing it to us all to enjoy, and congratulations on this stunning image.
Shirley Hill
What an incredible photo. You have captured Nature in one of her grander moments.
Thank you for sharing this wonder of our beautiful planet.
The story fully enhanced the moment. You transported us to this wonderous place.
I was holding my breath, I could almost feel the movement of this sleeping ice giant.
The colours are eerie and so true.
One of my favourites. Thank you for offering this to Photo of The Day. Now we can all
enjoy.
Pauline Jones
Thank you for showing us something so unusual and beautiful. Iceland seems to have many features that you can’t get anywhere else in the world.
Helen Hart
I looked at this and went “ooo Wow!” Gorgeous.
Michael J Leather
This is by far one of my most favourite nature pictures
Deborah Flowers
Enchanting indeed! That is Incredible! Thanks for sharing!
Amy
I’m speechless, except to agree w/Shell. Thank you, Christian!
Trendle Ellwood
Wow! thanks for the explaination of what it is, thanks for being there, thanks for sharing!