WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en 1 00:00:03.479 --> 00:00:08.250 The Arctic Circle is the line above which you get midnight sun at least one day a year. 2 00:00:08.250 --> 00:00:12.217 And also where you get one day where the sun doesn't peek above the horizon at all. 3 00:00:12.217 --> 00:00:15.185 But despite its reputation for being cold and northern, 4 00:00:15.185 --> 00:00:18.350 Iceland is not above the Arctic Circle. 5 00:00:18.350 --> 00:00:19.900 Well, most of it isn't. 6 00:00:19.900 --> 00:00:26.039 There is one part of a tiny island called Grímsey, north of Akureyri, which is where I am now. 7 00:00:26.039 --> 00:00:30.119 Grímsey is home to fewer than a hundred people and way more than a hundred puffins. 8 00:00:30.119 --> 00:00:32.090 And it's a good story. 9 00:00:32.090 --> 00:00:33.090 I was going to travel there, 10 00:00:33.090 --> 00:00:36.260 I was going to see the monument they built at the Arctic Circle line. 11 00:00:36.260 --> 00:00:40.690 But because the earth wobbles on its axis, the Arctic Circle is moving north. 12 00:00:40.690 --> 00:00:44.910 So there's now a new monument: an eight-tonne spherical stone boulder 13 00:00:44.910 --> 00:00:47.460 that they can move every year as the line moves. 14 00:00:47.460 --> 00:00:50.559 In about fifty years, they'll probably have to move it into the ocean, 15 00:00:50.559 --> 00:00:55.560 because the Arctic Circle will have left the island of Grímsey for a few millennia. 16 00:00:55.560 --> 00:01:01.190 And Iceland, so my story went, will no longer have any territory above the Arctic Circle. 17 00:01:01.190 --> 00:01:03.260 Decent story, right? 18 00:01:03.260 --> 00:01:07.390 But then I found that there's another bit of Iceland above the Arctic Circle, 19 00:01:07.390 --> 00:01:09.770 another 60km or so further north. 20 00:01:09.770 --> 00:01:12.760 A small, uninhabitable bit of rock called Kolbeinsey. 21 00:01:12.760 --> 00:01:15.820 And that's the sort of technicality I have to pay attention to, 22 00:01:15.820 --> 00:01:19.210 if I don't want several hundred emails pointing out that I'm wrong. 23 00:01:19.210 --> 00:01:23.730 And so, the story about Grimsey sort of fell apart, it didn't work any more. 24 00:01:23.730 --> 00:01:29.390 Except, there's one line on the Wikipedia article about that small, uninhabitable bit of rock. 25 00:01:29.390 --> 00:01:31.610 "It is subject to rapid wave erosion, 26 00:01:31.610 --> 00:01:34.970 "and is expected to disappear in the near future, 27 00:01:34.970 --> 00:01:38.180 "probably around the year 2020." 28 00:01:38.180 --> 00:01:41.720 The trouble is, there's no way for a tourist to get out to Kolbeinsey. 29 00:01:41.720 --> 00:01:43.520 It's just a tiny bit of rock. 30 00:01:43.520 --> 00:01:46.940 To see if it's still there, you'd have to charter a plane. 31 00:01:46.940 --> 00:01:49.269 So I chartered a plane! 32 00:01:51.500 --> 00:01:57.610 We're flying out, right now, to the co-ordinates of where Kolbeinsey might be. 33 00:01:57.610 --> 00:01:58.730 Or might not be. 34 00:01:58.730 --> 00:02:03.950 Here's what I know: in the 17th century, Kolbeinsey was about 700m by 100m, 35 00:02:03.950 --> 00:02:05.630 and about 100m tall. 36 00:02:05.630 --> 00:02:08.620 It was the massive remnant of an old volcanic eruption. 37 00:02:08.620 --> 00:02:10.638 But it's been steadily, constantly eroded 38 00:02:10.638 --> 00:02:15.260 by the ocean, by freeze/thaw cycles, and by sea ice in winter. 39 00:02:15.260 --> 00:02:18.739 By 1986, it was only about 40m by 40m, 40 00:02:18.739 --> 00:02:22.459 and it only reached about 5m above the waves. 41 00:02:22.459 --> 00:02:25.710 Iceland built a helipad on there to try to stop it eroding, 42 00:02:25.710 --> 00:02:29.000 but in 2006 the Coast Guard here reported that the helipad had collapsed. 43 00:02:29.000 --> 00:02:33.450 Iceland isn't reinforcing Kolbeinsey any more: they seem to have abandoned it to the waves. 44 00:02:33.450 --> 00:02:36.269 And it might not seem like that matters. 45 00:02:36.269 --> 00:02:39.599 But tiny places like that can make a difference, 46 00:02:39.599 --> 00:02:43.599 because countries' territorial limits and exclusive fishing areas 47 00:02:43.599 --> 00:02:46.819 are sometimes decided by rocks like that. 48 00:02:46.819 --> 00:02:48.970 In the mid-20th century, the UK and Iceland 49 00:02:48.970 --> 00:02:53.110 had what the British media dramatically called the "Cod Wars", 50 00:02:53.110 --> 00:02:55.409 disputes about fishing rights near Iceland. 51 00:02:55.409 --> 00:03:00.290 And by the way, Iceland won. The UK conceded. 52 00:03:00.290 --> 00:03:05.359 Now, Kolbeinsey is mentioned in legal documents about Iceland's territorial limits, 53 00:03:05.359 --> 00:03:07.989 but I'm also not really sure whether it matters. 54 00:03:07.989 --> 00:03:10.810 To work out what's going to happen when it disappears, 55 00:03:10.810 --> 00:03:14.069 you'd need an expert in international maritime law and, frankly, a psychic, 56 00:03:14.069 --> 00:03:16.299 because the answer likely is: 57 00:03:16.299 --> 00:03:19.420 it gets settled by negotiations between governments, 58 00:03:19.420 --> 00:03:23.790 not by some rando in a plane going "hey, your island isn't there any more!" 59 00:03:23.790 --> 00:03:29.299 But it does feel a bit provocative for me, as a British person, 60 00:03:29.299 --> 00:03:33.440 to be checking up on whether Iceland's rock is still there. 61 00:03:33.440 --> 00:03:36.469 All right. We are approaching the co-ordinates. 62 00:03:36.469 --> 00:03:40.569 We are flying only 500 feet above the waves, that's about 150m. 63 00:03:40.569 --> 00:03:42.930 It's low tide. The weather is clear. 64 00:03:42.930 --> 00:03:47.929 If there was ever a chance to see if Kolbeinsey is still there, this is it. 65 00:03:52.550 --> 00:03:55.010 I think I can see it! 66 00:03:55.010 --> 00:03:59.529 I'm pretty sure that's it up ahead. 67 00:03:59.529 --> 00:04:03.460 Oh, man, there's barely anything. 68 00:04:07.989 --> 00:04:13.419 That used to be an island 700m by 100m, and that's all that's left. 69 00:04:13.419 --> 00:04:19.200 And yes, it's eroded away, but it looks like predictions were a little bit pessimistic. 70 00:04:19.200 --> 00:04:22.810 There's two little islands still poking above the water. 71 00:04:22.810 --> 00:04:24.530 Importantly, it is still there, 72 00:04:24.530 --> 00:04:27.840 at low tide it is still above the waves. 73 00:04:27.840 --> 00:04:31.340 Iceland, your island is still there. 74 00:04:31.340 --> 00:04:33.520 You're welcome! 75 00:04:33.520 --> 00:04:36.720 This video was inspired by some tweets from Sam Hughes, a brilliant science fiction author. 76 00:04:36.720 --> 00:04:38.610 I recommend his books Ra and Fine Structure, 77 00:04:38.610 --> 00:04:42.340 he's also responsible for the Antimemetics Division stories over on the SCP Wiki. 78 00:04:42.340 --> 00:04:44.140 I've linked to his work in the description. 79 00:04:44.140 --> 00:04:45.190 Sam, thank you very much.