River
Skjálfandafljót
178 km from source to mouth · Iceland.
IcelandFlows into Skjálfandi3rd longest in Iceland
In numbers
Length
178km
Average flow
80m³/s
Basin
3,860km²
Drop
910m
from 910 m to 0 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
178 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 910 m
- 96 kmÍshólsvatn5.1 km²
- 100 kmAldeyjarfoss20 m
- 100 kmIngvararfoss
- 113 kmBrunnvatn0.6 km²
- 122 kmSigurðarstaðatjörn0.3 km²
- 141 kmGoðafoss
- 149 kmBarnafoss
- 178 kmSkjálfandiat 0 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Iceland
At the mouth it carries 80 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 31 seconds. It drops from 910 m to 0 m, 5.1 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 3,860 km², about the size of CV. Highest water, with the snowmelt: May; 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
Skjálfandafljót, month by month
Highest water: May
Lowest water: from January to April. Melting snow makes up much of its water. Best months to visit: from June to August.
From about 12 m³/s in the lowest month to 290 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
Skjálfandafljót: the basin in numbers
3,108 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 483people live in the basin
- 727maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,139mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 0.0°Caverage air temperature
- 28%protected areas
- 0.4%covered by lakes
- 8%glaciers
- 3%permafrost
What covers the basin
- 8% 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
Skjálfandafljót: what you find on the way
- 13WaterfallsHrafnabjargafoss, Ingvararfoss, Aldeyjarfoss and 10 more
From OpenStreetMap, within 1.5 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Skjálfandafljót 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.
4waterfalls on the riverCascadyas
3lakes on its wayLakeyas
7beaches at the mouth and on the banksCoastya
1mountain at the sourcePeakyas
2islands off the mouthIslandyas
Waterfalls (4)
On the river, by Cascadyas
- Aldeyjarfosskm 9420m
- Ingvararfosskm 94
- Goðafosskm 13312m
- Barnafosskm 140
Cascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗
Lakes and reservoirs (3)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Íshólsvatnkm 915.1km²
- Brunnvatnkm 1060.6km²
- Sigurðarstaðatjörnkm 1150.3km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Beaches (7)
At the mouth (25 km) and on the banks, by Coastya
- Sjávarsandur2.0 km away9.3°C
- Saltvík9.1 km away · cove9.3°C
- Héðinsvík16 km away · cove9.3°C
- Ærvík7.5 km away · cove9.3°C
- Skálavík6.3 km away · cove9.3°C
- Náttfaravík4.4 km away · cove9.3°C
- Eyrarvík19 km away · cove9.3°C
Islands off the mouth (2)
Within 30 km of the mouth, by Islandyas
- Flatey24 km away2.8km²
- Lundey, Skjálfandi18 km away0.1km²
Islandyas is coming soonOpen Islandyas ↗
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
Skjálfandafljót in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (1)
Also: Svartá
Where these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q1339368) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed along the river network from the point 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, Lakeyas, Coastya, Peakyas, Islandyas — 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.
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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 
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Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
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Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit