Snæfellsjökull (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈs(t)naiːˌfɛlsˌjœːkʏtl̥] , snow-fell glacier) is a 700,000-year-old glacier-capped stratovolcano in western Iceland. It is situated on the westernmost part of the Snæfellsnes peninsula. Sometimes it may be seen from the city of Reykjavík over Faxa Bay, at a distance of 120 km (75 mi). The mountain is one of the most famous sites of Iceland, primarily due to the novel Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864) by Jules Verne, in which the protagonists find the entrance to a passage leading to the center of the Earth on Snæfellsjökull. The mountain is part of Snæfellsjökull National Park (Icelandic: Þjóðgarðurinn Snæfellsjökull). Snæfellsjökull was visible from an extreme distance due to an arctic mirage on 17 July 1939. Captain Robert Bartlett of the Effie M. Morrissey sighted Snæfellsjökull from a position some 536 to 560 kilometres (289–302 nmi) distant. In August 2012, the summit was ice-free for the first time in recorded history. The icecap area had been 16 km2 (6.2 sq mi) in 1946, 14 km2 (5.4 sq mi) in 1999 reducing to 10–11 km2 (3.9–4.2 sq mi) in 2008.
