Dettifoss

The Jökulsá á Fjöllum flows from Vatnajökull, and over thousands of years it, together with enormous glacial floods, carved the Jökulsárgljúfur canyon. The falls are still eating back into their own edge, moving upstream by about half a metre a year, according to the national park.

Dettifoss was protected in 1996 along with neighbouring waterfalls, and the area became part of Jökulsárgljúfur National Park and later Vatnajökull National Park, which was inscribed by UNESCO in 2019. Its elemental appearance has also drawn filmmakers, notably for the opening scene of the 2012 film Prometheus.

The area around Dettifoss is wild and largely uninhabited, with farms and small communities in the valleys and along the coast. National park rangers manage the trails and information. The falls carry meltwater from Vatnajökull, a reminder of how closely life in North Iceland is linked to the ice cap far to the south.