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Giant tour bus traverses glacier - 4th November 2020

Sweeping passengers across the frozen ice cap of Langjokull, Iceland's second largest glacier at speeds of up to 60 kilometres an hour, Sleipnir is an 8 wheel, glacier tour bus bearing the name of Norse god Odin's mythological eight-legged steed, and which stretches 15 metres from nose to tail.

Among those riding the bus is Rosella Greco from Italy.

Rosella Greco: "It, it feels really emotional and you are, like, touching something that it’s so old, and you feel so in contact with the earth. I mean, it's like when you see the Colosseum or something so old."

Formed two and a half millennia ago and reaching almost fifteen hundred metres at its peak, the glacier is at risk of disappearing. The ice coverage is shrinking year on year due to temperature changes driven by climate change.

Thorsteinn Thorsteinsson, a glaciologist at the Iceland Met office, reflects on what this might mean for the future of Langjokull.

Thorsteinn Thorsteinsson: "If this continues in a similar way, or even in a still warmer climate, then it's very likely that all of Langjokull or maybe 80, 90 per cent of it will be gone by the end of this century, really."