When you think of desert, the first thing that comes to mind is the Sahara Desert. Yes, this is the largest desert on Earth, but it turns out that our continent also has deserts, although they are a little different from most deserts.
Iceland is an island country in the northern Atlantic Ocean. It is famous for the Northern Lights and numerous volcanoes. And it turns out that it is there that the largest and most active desert in Europe is located.
Over 44,000 square kilometers. A sandy desert where active processes occur. It is black, derived from basalt rather than sand like the Sahara Desert, and contains many impurities from volcanic glass. This sand, which covers a vast surface, comes from the collapse of sedimentary rocks as well as glacial river deposits and volcanic eruptions.
This large area of Iceland, now desert, was forested centuries ago. The country has long been experiencing a process the United Nations calls “desertification.” This is a phenomenon in which areas with lush vegetation turn into sandy fields due to climate change. And the organization believes this is “one of the biggest environmental challenges of our time.”
Thus, today’s desert areas were birch forests when the Vikings settled the islands. Over the years, inadequate land management has caused the landscape to continue to deteriorate, with only 2% of Iceland now covered in forest. Policies are currently in place to double this rate by 2050.
Meanwhile, the island nation’s desert areas, covered in black sand, influence the climate of the entire continent. We often hear about winds carrying Saharan sand from thousands of kilometers away. However, it is not uncommon for them to carry Icelandic sand with them. Euronews wrote that evidence of its presence was also found in samples taken in Serbia.
Dust storms containing this “high latitude dust” reach many parts of continental Europe. And they have been found to affect the climate because they darken and absorb sunlight, warming the Earth’s surface and air. And when this black sand forms a layer just 1 cm thick on top of the glacier, it causes the glacier to melt. It is also a serious air pollutant and a cause of climate change, especially in areas with glaciers. There is an “unlimited source of dust” beneath the melted ice blocks, making the warming process really difficult to control. And we all see the results.
Example photo by Adrien Olichon: https://www.pexels.com/photo/black-and-white-photography-of-sand-2387819/
