Surtsey, Iceland
Coordinates: 63 4 N 20 3 W
Approximate elevation: 554 feet (169m)
Years and sometimes decades can pass before a map becomes visibly outdated to even an untrained eye. On other occasions, a rather dramatic change can be seen in a matter of months. Surtsey, a tiny Icelandic island named after a fire-possessing giant that now serves as a nature reserve and resting ground for migrating birds and seals in the North Atlantic, qualifies handily as an example of the latter. The result of an undersea volcanic eruption that began a short distance from the southern coast and lasted more than three years altogether, Surtsey takes its name from Sutur, or Surt, a powerful giant in Norse mythology who hastens the destruction of the universe by setting fire to the World Tree. Growing from a fissure in the ocean floor at a depth of about 400 feet, the island began to take shape above the waterline roughly two weeks after submarine explosions began on November 8, 1963.
Ben Keene is the editor of the Oxford Atlas of the World.
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