2020-08-17

[public] 1.14M views, 120K likes, 269 dislikes audio only

Tom Scott

Kolbeinsey is the most northern part of Iceland, a tiny island that, according to Wikipedia, is due to disappear due to wave erosion "probably around the year 2020". Which raised an obvious question: is it still there?

THANKS TO:

This video was inspired by some tweets from author Sam Hughes. You can follow him on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/qntm and read his work here: https://qntm.org/fiction

The pilots and team at Norlandair, who sorted out a charter at very short notice: https://www.norlandair.is/

The folks at the Hafdals Hotel, who were okay with me filming from their spectacular view!

FILMED SAFELY: see https://www.tomscott.com/safe/

PHOTO CREDITS:

Grimsey photos, in order, all licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Michael Pollak, "basaltsäulen": https://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelpollak/30409397618/

John Lester, "IMG_0546": https://www.flickr.com/photos/pathfinderlinden/190514442/

Brian Gratwicke, "Puffin on Grimsey": https://www.flickr.com/photos/briangratwicke/14809239484/

Michael Pollak, "marker": https://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelpollak/29340290367/

All photos of Kolbeinsey in 1989 and 2001 are copyright Guðmundur St. Valdimarsson, and used with permission and thanks.

Photos from 2013 are copyright of Landhelgisgæsla Íslands (the Icelandic Coast Guard), and used with permission and thanks.

And the "so I chartered a plane" gag is very heavily inspired by Matt Parker's video about stroboscopic helicopter blades: /youtube/video/2SgG99QKLFE

SOURCES and FURTHER READING:

Sæmundsson and Hjartarson (1989), "Geology and Erosion of Kolbeinsey North of Iceland", http://wayback.vefsafn.is/wayback/20061115000423/http://www.isor.is/~ah/kolbeinsey/kolb_ensk.html

Jacobsen, T., & Stone, I. (2006). Kolbeinsey: Iceland's Arctic island. Polar Record, 42(2), 167-169. doi: 10.1017/s0032247406215298

From Landhelgisgæsla Íslands (the Icelandic Coast Guard):

https://www.lhg.is/frettir-og-fjolmidlar/frettasafn/frettayfirlit/nr/212

https://www.lhg.is/frettir-og-fjolmidlar/frettasafn/frettayfirlit/nr/1652

https://www.lhg.is/frettir-og-fjolmidlar/frettasafn/frettayfirlit/nr/2564

https://www.lhg.is/frettir-og-fjolmidlar/frettasafn/frettayfirlit/nr/2611

The Cod Wars, from the UK National Archives: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/cabinetpapers/themes/cod-wars.htm

And of course, the Wikipedia article for Kolbeinsey, which will presumably be updated shortly after this video goes live. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolbeinsey

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