Giant Glacier-Crossing Bus May Soon Travel No More

A giant passenger bus runs up to 60 kilometers an hour across Iceland's second-largest glacier, picking up people along the way. Unfortunately, the glacier and the bus that runs on top of it may be no more before the century ends.

The Langjokull - Icelandic for "long glacier" - is the nation's second-largest ice cap. It formed around 2,500 years ago and accounting for a cycle of melting and freezing again; experts date the oldest ice still in the glacier to be 500 years old.

On the other hand, the red glacier megabus is a 50 foot, 15 meters, long transport especially fitted with massive tires designed to give it the traction it needs to sweep along the Langjokull.

Named After Odin's Eight-Legged Horse

The red megabus is also fitted with an 850 horsepower engine that drives its eight massive wheels, each of which measures 2 meters across. As a giant vehicle with eight wheels, it has been called "Sleipnir" - the mythical eight-legged horse that was the mount of the Norse god Odin.

Sleipnir is mainly used by tourists who wish to see Iceland's seemingly endless glaciers. The megabus features comfortable leather seats for tourists who are glacier-gazing, either from the windowed sides or through the roof. In a feature from the Agence France-Presse, a tour inside the large red bus costs 10,000 Icelandic krona (ISK), or about 71 US dollars.

Its massive body can cross crevasses in the deep ice three meters wide. However, its large engine also burns through 12 gallons (45 liters) of petrol for every kilometer traveled, with its weight leaving deep imprints in the ice and snow. A local news outlet estimates the cost of building this giant at around 70 million ISK, or close to half a million dollars.

Iceland's Long Glacier

The Icelandic glacier runs along the country's active volcanic zone, that iis from northeast to southwest. Its official entry at Britannica places its length at 40 miles (64 kilometers) and its width at 15 miles (24 kilometers), covering a total surface area of almost 400 square miles or more than a thousand square kilometers.

The largest surface area of the Langjokull, or its maximum Little Ice Age volume, was recorded sometime in 1840, followed by a "second local maximum" by 1890. About 97 square miles (250 square kilometers) of the glacier has been lost since then.

Its highest point rests at the Baldjokull, the ice cap's northern tip - 4,760 feet (1,450 meters) above sea level. The view from this point formerly covered Iceland's other snow-capped peaks, such as the Okjokull, which was Iceland's first glacier lost in 2014, due to climate change.

As an endangered natural feature, Icelanders have been marking the ice line for every 20 years since 1940 to monitor its recession. The markers are placed in a path moving from the foot of the glacier.