Statistics
- Geographic coordinates
- Northern Europe (for cultural and historical reasons it is not considered to be a part of North America), between the Greenland Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, northwest of the British Isles.
- 65°00′N 18°00′W / 65°N 18°W / 65; -18
- North: Rifstangi, 66°32′3" N (Kolbeinsey, 67°08,9 N)
- South: Kötlutangi, 63°23′6" N (Surtsey, 63°17,7 N)
- West: Bjargtangar, 24°32′1" W
- East: Gerpir, 13°29′6" W (Hvalbakur, 13°16,6 W)
- Map references
- Arctic Region
- Area
-
- Total: 103,125 km²
- Land: 100,329 km²
- Water: 2,796 km²
- Land boundaries
- 0 km
- Coastline
- 4,988 km
- Maritime claims
-
- Continental shelf: 200 nmi (370.4 km; 230.2 mi) or to the edge of the continental margin
- Exclusive economic zone: 200 nmi (370.4 km; 230.2 mi)
- Territorial sea: 12 nmi (22.2 km; 13.8 mi)
- Climate
- Temperate; moderated by North Atlantic Current; mild, windy winters; cool summers, damp in the South and West
- Terrain
- Mostly plateau interspersed with mountain peaks, ice fields; coast deeply indented by bays and fjords
- Elevation extremes
-
- Lowest point: Jökulsárlón Lagoon: -146 m, Atlantic Ocean 0 m
- Highest point: Hvannadalshnúkur 2,110 m
- Natural resources
- Fish, hydropower, geothermal power.
- Land use
-
- Arable land: 0.07%
- Permanent crops: 0%
- Permanent pastures: 23%
- Forests and woodland: 1%
- Other: 76% (1993 est.)
- Irrigated land
- NA
- Natural hazards
- Earthquakes, volcanic activity, avalanches, and glacial lake outburst flooding (or jökulhlaups)
- Environment—current issues
- Water pollution from fertilizer runoff; inadequate wastewater treatment
- Environment—international agreements
-
- Party to: Air Pollution, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution (MARPOL 73/78), Wetlands, Whaling
- Signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Environmental Modification, Marine Life Conservation
- Geography—note
- Westernmost European country; more land covered by glaciers than in all of continental Europe
Read more about this topic: Geography Of Iceland
Famous quotes containing the word statistics:
“and Olaf, too
preponderatingly because
unless statistics lie he was
more brave than me: more blond than you.”
—E.E. (Edward Estlin)
“We ask for no statistics of the killed,
For nothing political impinges on
This single casualty, or all those gone,
Missing or healing, sinking or dispersed,
Hundreds of thousands counted, millions lost.”
—Karl Shapiro (b. 1913)
“O for a man who is a man, and, as my neighbor says, has a bone in his back which you cannot pass your hand through! Our statistics are at fault: the population has been returned too large. How many men are there to a square thousand miles in this country? Hardly one.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)