River
Jökulsá á Fjöllum
206 km from source to mouth · Iceland.
IcelandFlows into Öxarfjörður1st longest in Iceland
In numbers
Length
206km
Average flow
180m³/s
Basin
7,750km²
Drop
1,168m
from 1,175 m to 7 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
206 km of river and 7 stops on the way: 0 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmVatnajökullat 1,175 m
- 77 kmGljúfrasmiður
- 163 kmSelfoss
- 166 kmDettifoss
- 167 kmHafragilsfoss27 m
- 173 kmRéttarfoss
- 173 kmVígabergsfoss
- 173 kmVigabjargsfoss
- 206 kmÖxarfjörðurat 7 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Austurland and Norðurland eystra, Iceland
At the mouth it carries 183 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 14 seconds. It drops from 1,175 m to 7 m, 5.7 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 7,750 km², about the size of PR. 2,248 people live in it. Highest water, with the snowmelt: from June to July; lowest: from January to April. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- NorðurþingLargest city on its banks · 3,234 people
- Akureyri International Airport (AEY)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 54 km from the cityCar hire at AEY airport (Akureyri)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From June to AugustThe best months to visit
Jökulsá á Fjöllum, month by month
Highest water: from June to July
Lowest water: from January to April. Melting snow makes up much of its water. Best months to visit: from June to August.
From about 32 m³/s in the lowest month to 620 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.
Plan the trip
Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
The basin
Jökulsá á Fjöllum: the basin in numbers
7,550 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 2,248people live in the basin
- 0/km²people per km²
- 737maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,257mmof rain a year (basin average)
- -0.4°Caverage air temperature
- 40%protected areas
- 0.4%covered by lakes
- 22%glaciers
- 6%permafrost
What covers the basin
- 22% Ice
RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.
Along the river
Jökulsá á Fjöllum: what you find on the way
- 21WaterfallsSkínandi, Gljúfrasmiður, Selfoss and 18 more
From OpenStreetMap, within 1.7 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Jökulsá á Fjöllum in our other atlases
What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.
7waterfalls on the riverCascadyas
5beaches at the mouth and on the banksCoastya
1mountain at the sourcePeakyas
Waterfalls (7)
On the river, by Cascadyas
- Gljúfrasmiðurkm 77
- Selfosskm 16444m
- Dettifosskm 16544m
- Hafragilsfosskm 16827m
- Réttarfosskm 173
- Vígabergsfosskm 173
- Vigabjargsfosskm 174
Cascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗
Beaches (5)
At the mouth (25 km) and on the banks, by Coastya
- Magnavík18 km away · cove9.3°C
- Grímshöfn24 km away · cove9.3°C
- Fjallahöfn15 km away · cove9.5°C
- Buðlungahöfn14 km away · cove9.3°C
- Bangastaðahöfn18 km away · cove9.5°C
Mountains at the source (1)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Kverkfjöll8.7 km away1,933m
From space
The source and the mouth, seen from orbit
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.
Photos
Jökulsá á Fjöllum in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (1)
Also: Kreppa
Where these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q608602) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata |
| Flow | WaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate along the river | WorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Towns, bridges, dams | Wikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Along the river | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Our other atlases | Cascadyas, Coastya, Peakyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST |
Every source and licence is on the data sources page.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
beaches
Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit 
lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit 
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit 
rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit