This crevasse is part of a larger system of fractures which emerged between 2003 and 2011. Growth of the fractures and movements of few centimetres per year were observed around 2017. A volume of several tens of millions of cubic metres is potentially susceptible to catastrophic failure, which would impact Svínafellsjökull and might also affect areas downstream due to cascading effects. However, the probability of such a scenario remains unclear.