Tungnaá

View from top of Bláhnúkur at Landmannalaugar. The river Tungnaá shimmers between the hills in the right middle

The Tungnaá is a river in the south of Iceland.

River course

It rises to the Kerlingar or on Tungnaárjökull far Bárðarbunga and Hamarinn on the west side of the Vatnajökull ice sheet and is both a source and a glacial river. The largest amount of water comes from the glaciers that is not, but from sources in the field of Veiðivötn.

There Tungnaá located a short distance from Landmannalaugar.

Then the river runs to the southwest. In the craters of the Vestur - Bjalla he turns to the northwest. There are also two power plants for which the river was dammed lakes: Hrauneyjafossvirkjun and Sigölduvirkjun. The Tungnaá eventually flows west of the Budarhals the valley and empties into the reservoir Sultartangalón Þjórsá.

Water level and other data

Due to sudden tidal waves due to (eg volcanic related ) glacier melt, the river is considered to be quite dangerous. The average amount of water on Hrauneyjarfoss is between 120 and 180 m³ / s in summer and between 100 and 100-160 m³ / s in winter.

The catchment area of ​​the water-rich river covers 3040 km ², of which 170 sq km are on glaciers.

The length of the Tungnaá is 129 km.

Traffic

The area could be used to navigate because of the non -hazardous fords only with high-wheeled jeeps. Due to the power plant projects numerous roads were developed in the highlands. Today, there are some bridges.

The highland road Sprengisandsleið crossed the river to the power plant Hrauneyjar.

Power plants

On the edge of the highlands toward Hrauneyjar are two power plants for which the river was dammed lakes: Hrauneyjafossvirkjun and Sigölduvirkjun. This produces the Sultartanga power plant 120MW.

The construction of the power plants has greatly changed the landscape, including the waterfalls Hrauneyjarfoss and Ármótafoss are more or less disappeared under the power plants and the reservoirs or have only very little water. So you see, for example, the Sigöldufoss only correct when water is discharged from the up-river reservoirs.