Tropical?

Where do you think this beautiful beach might be? With its blue sea and sky, clean white sands and peaceful tranquillity, surely this must be Tahiti, Grenada or Antigua.

Nope.

This is West Beach in Berneray (Beàrnaraigh), Sound of Harris, Outer Hebrides of #Scotland.

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50/50

A cloudy night in November, but the #aurora can't be completely hidden.

The Green Dancer will always win.

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Drapes

Low cloud and freezing fog are curled around the feet of the mountains. Even so, the beauty of the valleys and snowfields is striking through.

Tungufjall (859m/2818ft) in Skagafjörður¹, north-western #Iceland.

¹ 𝙎𝙠𝙖-𝘨𝘢-𝘧𝘺𝘶𝘳𝘳-𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘳

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Sundog

A parhelion in the May morning. Magical.

This glorious beauty was waiting for me as I opened my bedroom curtains. Even my first coffee had to wait for a few moments.

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Snout

Mid-November 2016, and we're visiting an old friend.

Fláajökull¹ glacier had a sturdy access bridge across the river Hólmsá, but floods washed it away in September 2017.

https://www.visir.is/g/2017170928949 (in Icelandic.)

We were lucky enough to visit while it was still there.

Mýrar, south-eastern #Iceland.

¹ 𝙁𝙡𝙖-𝘸𝘢-𝘺𝘶-𝘬𝘵𝘭

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Impassable

February: Ófært¹, the sign says. Langjökull is inaccessible, and we're aboard a converted missile carrier on our way to the world's largest man-made ice tunnel.

Langjökull (the "Long Glacier") is the second largest in #Iceland, covering an area of about 950 km². Resting on a massif of hyaloclastite mountains, most of it rises 1200 - 1300m (3937 - 4265ft) above sea level.

¹ 𝙊𝙝-𝘷𝘢𝘺-𝘳𝘳𝘵 ('ay' as in 'sky')

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Swamp Valley Glacier

Mýrdalsjökull¹ - the eponymous glacier - rises before us like a great white wall.

On the far side of the ice cap lies Katla, one of the largest volcanic sources of carbon dioxide (CO₂) on Earth, quiescent since 1918 and well overdue for an eruption.

Katla makes its neighbour Eyjafjallajökull² look small.

Markarfljótsaurar in southern #Iceland.

¹ 𝙈𝙚𝙚𝙧𝙧-𝘥𝘢𝘭𝘴-𝘺𝘶-𝘬𝘵𝘭
² 𝙀𝙮𝙖-𝘧𝘺𝘢-𝘭𝘢-𝘺𝘶-𝘬𝘵𝘭

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Altocumulus Lenticularis Islandica

A warm day, low 20s Centigrade and a clear sky. A stiff breeze blowing in across the southern sea brings moisture which rises above the mountains, cools, and forms beautiful cloud structures over the glaciers.

Kambhorn (650m/2132ft) and Klifatindur (847m/2279ft) Lónsfjörður¹ in eastern #Iceland.

¹ 𝙇𝙤𝙬𝙬𝙣𝙨-𝘧𝘺𝘳𝘳-𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘳 ("oww" as in "ouch")

Wide photo - please click/tap!

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Cold Dawn

The sunrise paints the cloud with peach but the ice still waits for first warmth.

Búlandstindur¹ (1069m/3507ft) in Berufjörður², eastern #Iceland.

¹ 𝘽𝙤𝙤-𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴-𝘵𝘪𝘯-𝘥𝘳𝘳
² 𝘽𝙚𝙧𝙧-𝘰𝘰-𝘧𝘺𝘳𝘳-𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘳

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Shoulder

November: The rim of a valley is highlighted by the midday winter sun, accentuating the vertebrae of its stacked layers.

Sauðdalstindur¹ (1115 m/3658 ft) between Berufjörður and Hamarsfjörður, eastern #Iceland.

¹ 𝙎𝙪𝙩𝙝-𝘥𝘢𝘭𝘴-𝘵𝘪𝘯-𝘥𝘳𝘳

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"Feather River Canyon"

With steep walls and winding water, this canyon was created by the progressive erosion of glacial meltwater running through the rocks and palagonite over millennia.

At 100 m (330 ft) deep and about 2 km (1.2 miles) long, this is Fjaðrárgljúfur¹ in south-eastern #Iceland.

¹ 𝙁𝙮𝙖-𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘳-𝘰𝘸𝘳𝘳-𝘨𝘭𝘺𝘰𝘰-𝘷𝘳𝘳

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Autumn Ice

September, and Fláajökull¹ is veiled behind heat haze. On a balmy autumn day such as this, the ferocity of winter can seem far away but is actually due at any time. Even the grasses are still quite green.

But not for long.

¹ 𝙁𝙡𝙖-𝘸𝘢-𝘺𝘶-𝘬𝘶-𝘵𝘭𝘭

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Mountain Mists

A beautiful afternoon in eastern #Iceland and we're driving towards Álftafjörður¹, the "swan fjord".

Mýrarfell (1108m/3635ft) and Nóntindur (955m/3133ft) are standing guard.

¹ 𝙊𝙬𝙡-𝘧𝘵𝘢-𝘧𝘺𝘳𝘳-𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘳

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Morning Moon

Sunrise touches the mountain tops with first warmth, while a gibbous moon sets in a cold sky.

November, Hornafjörður, south-eastern #Iceland.

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Stand Of Trees

"And wakes the morning, from whose silver breast
The sun ariseth in his majesty;
Who doth the world so gloriously behold
That cedar-tops and hills seem burnish'd gold."
- #ShakespeareSunday, Venus and Adonis

From my bedroom window in Fife, #Scotland.

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Cloud Atlas

My best shot of Saturday's #eclipse. From here onwards the clouds rolled in even more and took away my view completely.
<sigh>

This was at 10:15am as the obscuration was beginning, so the moon is only a small curve on the right.

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A Very Good Morning

A view like this before me when I begin my day always inspires and energises me. I hope it has the same positive effect on you.

The sunrise that greeted me as I opened the curtains on my bedroom window, late November 2024.

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Snow, Mountain, Glacier

Snæfellsjökull, a 700,000-year-old glacier-capped stratovolcano in western #Iceland.

The most recent eruption occurred around 1,800 years ago, but the volcano is still considered active, with the potential for future eruptions.

Sadly, according to glaciologists, the glacier is predicted to disappear by 2100.

The name Snæfellsjökull¹ literally means "Snow mountain glacier"

¹ 𝙎𝙣𝙖𝙚𝙚-𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘴-𝘺𝘶-𝘬𝘭𝘭

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"A little gale will soon disperse that cloud
And blow it to the source from whence it came:
The very beams will dry those vapours up,
For every cloud engenders not a storm."
- #ShakespeareSunday, Henry VI, Part III

Lentoid clouds at sunset, November, Eyjafjörður in eastern #Iceland

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