Welcome to the Surtsey Research Society´s Website.

The Surtsey Research Society was founded in 1965, two years after the onset of the Surtsey eruption. Further information on the society can be found here.

We hope that this Website will prove a reliable source of knowledge and information about the island and its development. Here you will find the most important geological and biological information on the origin and development of Surtsey.

The articles appearing here were written by scientists, each one a specialist in a given field. The Website will be reviewed regularly and updated accordingly. Readers are welcome to quote the text but should, of course, make proper reference to this site as their source of information.

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Reports published by the Surtsey Research Society since 1965 are available in pdf-format. The most recent one, Surtsey Research 12, was published in May 2009. It features interesting articles on ongoing research work in Surtsey. More here.

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A weatherstation and a webcamera has now been installed in Surtsey. Successful expedition was made in May 2009 in good weather and now a webcam is available in Surtsey for the first time.

Weather observations in Surtsey

Webcam in Surtsey

 

 

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Surtsey was inscribed as a natural property on UNESCO’s World Heritage List during the 32nd session of the The World Heritage Committee in July 2008. One of the ruling factors was that the island "has been protected since its birth, providing the world with a pristine natural laboratory. Free from human interference, Surtsey has been producing unique long-term information on the colonisation process of new land by plant and animal life."

More on the nomination, coverage by the UNESCO Courier.

The nomination document was prepared by the Icelandic Institute of Natural History and can be downloaded here.