Askja volcano is situated in a remote part of the central highlands of Iceland (location: 65.03° N, 16.75° W). The region is only accessible for a few months of the year, but surprisingly receives very little rainfall, only about 450 mm annually. The area was used during training for the Apollo program to prepare astronauts for potential lunar conditions.
The 1,510 m high Askja was virtually unknown until the tremendous eruption which started on March 29, 1875. Especially in the eastern fjords of Iceland, the ashfall was heavy enough to poison the land and kill cattle. The eruption triggered a substantial wave of emigration from Iceland. The last eruption of the Askja was in 1961.
Askja has a very large caldera (ca. 45 km²). Much of the caldera floor is covered by the large lake Öskjuvatn, which is the deepest lake in Iceland at 220 m deep. A small crater next to Öskjuvatn, Víti, contains a hot lake of mineral-rich opaque blue water. Both Öskjuvatn and Viti were formed in the large eruption in 1875.
In 1907, the German scientists Walter von Knebel and Max Rudloff visited Askja to study the caldera. While exploring Öskjuvatn in a small boat, they disappeared without a trace. Von Knebel's fiancée Ina von Grumbkow led an expedition to search for them, but no indication of what happened to them was ever found.
In the Dyngjufjoll mountains which surround the Askja caldera can be found the impressive Drekagil, the canyon of dragons. Not far from Askja, there are two other interesting volcanic systems: Herðubreið and Kverkfjöll.
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