Iceland Cruises › North Atlantic › Arctic Cruises | Oceanwide Expeditions

Iceland

Iceland is situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, about 800 kilometres north of Scotland and only 280 kilometres from Greenland. Although the vast majority of Iceland is located below the Arctic Circle, a small island, Grímsey, is crossed by it.
The island is geologically very young; it was created only 16 to 17 million years ago on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge by the movement of the American and Eurasian tectonic plates. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is still visible at Þingvellir (Thingvellir). There is a lot of geothermal activity in Iceland, with about 800 hot springs including geysers.

The first people that probably set foot on Iceland were monks from Ireland that settled in the 8^th century. Around 870 the first Norseman, settlers from Norway, arrived and drove away the monks. Over the centuries more settlers arrived from Norway. Nowadays Iceland is a modern, technologically advanced country within 5 hours of the east coast of the United States. It is the ideal place for taking a break and for visiting a European outpost with an exciting, lively, and ancient - but living - culture all of its own.

Climate
Thanks to the Gulf Stream, Iceland enjoys a maritime sub-Arctic climate, cool and temperate. The winters are mild and windy while the summers are damp and cool with mean temperatures around 11ºC (52ºF). The annual precipitation (in Reykjavik) is around 800 mm, much of which comes down as snow in winter.