Breiðamerkurjökull 2121: Sjónflug inn í óvissa framtíð

University of Iceland's Science and Innovation Award 2021 for Breiðamerkurjökull 2121: Sjónflug inn í óvissa framtíð | Breiðamerkurjökull 2121: Visual flights into the uncertain future.

In the category Society , the project Breiðamerkurjökull 2121: Visual flights into the uncertain future received a prize in the amount of ISK 1.5 million. The project is about singing Breiðamerkurjökull and the landscape next to it, as can be expected to look like in a hundred years on the basis of the most reliable scientific knowledge that currently exists about the probable hop of the glacier. Hypothesis maps will be prepared at 25-year intervals based on three different scenarios of glacial melting. Computer-generated images of the glacier and the landscape will be created and put together into a video that shows the development of things over time based on different scenarios. The melting of glaciers is one of the most visible manifestations of climate change and therefore a very suitable subject for disseminating information about the effects of those changes.

The jury points out that the project is socially important, as catastrophic warming is one of the biggest challenges facing the world. New 3D technologies that have been used mainly in video game production are used to disseminate scientific knowledge and the project is a model for interdisciplinary collaboration between scientists, designers, filmmakers and public institutions.