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Feb 25, 2021 · Outline Map. Key Facts. Flag. Covering an area of 2,166,086 sq. km (836,330 sq mi), Greenland (about 80% of which is ice-covered) is the world’s largest (non-continent) island, located between the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans. As observed on the physical map of Greenland above, the coastline is rugged, mountainous, and for the most part, barren.
Greenland is surrounded by other enormous islands. On its west is the Canadian Arctic archipelago, which contains Baffin Island (the world's fifth-largest island) by the Davis Strait, and from Ellesmere Island (the tenth-largest island) by Baffin Bay. On the east it is separated from Iceland (the 18th-largest island) by the Denmark Strait, and ...
In 1397, the kingdoms of Norway, Denmark, and Sweden all unified under a single monarch. Though the union had periods of disruption, Iceland and Greenland, territories originally associated with Norway, came under this joint crown and became a part of Denmark. When the union would later dissolve, Iceland and Greenland remained Danish territories.
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Greenland, the world’s largest island, lying in the North Atlantic Ocean. Greenland (Kalaallit Nunaat) is noted for its vast tundra and immense glaciers.
Although Greenland remains part of the Kingdom of Denmark, the island’s home-rule government is responsible for most domestic affairs. The Greenlandic people are primarily Inuit who, depending upon the region they are from, call themselves Kalaallit (West Greenlanders), Inugguit (from Thule district), or Iit (East Greenlanders). They call their homeland Kalaallit Nunaat (“Country of the Greenlanders”). The capital of Greenland is Nuuk (Godthåb).
More than three times the size of the U.S. state of Texas, Greenland extends about 1,660 miles (2,670 km) from north to south and more than 650 miles (1,050 km) from east to west at its widest point. Two-thirds of the island lies within the Arctic Circle, and the island’s northern extremity extends to within less than 500 miles (800 km) of the North Pole. Greenland is separated from Canada’s Ellesmere Island to the north by only 16 miles (26 km). The nearest European country is Iceland, lying about 200 miles (320 km) across the Denmark Strait to the southeast. Greenland’s deeply indented coastline is 24,430 miles (39,330 km) long, a distance roughly equivalent to Earth’s circumference at the Equator.
A submarine ridge no deeper than 600 feet (180 metres) connects the island physically with North America. Structurally, Greenland is an extension of the Canadian Shield, the rough plateau of the Canadian North that is made up of hard Precambrian rocks.
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Greenland’s major physical feature is its massive ice sheet, which is second only to Antarctica’s in size. The Greenland Ice Sheet has an average thickness of 5,000 feet (1,500 metres), reaches a maximum thickness of about 10,000 feet (3,000 metres), and covers more than 700,000 square miles (1,800,000 square km)—over four-fifths of Greenland’s total land area. Layers of snow falling on its barren, windswept surface become compressed into ice layers, which constantly move outward to the peripheral glaciers; the Jakobshavn Glacier, often moving 100 feet (30 metres) a day, is among the world’s fastest glaciers. The remaining ice-free land area occupies the country’s coastal areas and consists largely of highlands; mountain chains parallel the island’s east and west coasts, rising to 12,139 feet (3,700 metres) at Gunnbjørn Mountain in the southeast. These highlands notwithstanding, most parts of the rock floor underlying the Greenland Ice Sheet are in fact at or slightly beneath current sea levels.
Long, deep fjords reach far into both the east and west coasts of Greenland in complex systems, offering magnificent, if desolate, scenery. Along many parts of the coast, the ice sheet fronts directly on the sea, with large chunks breaking off the glaciers and sliding into the water as icebergs.
The northeastern part of Greenland is not part of any municipality, but it is the site of the world's largest national park, Northeast Greenland National Park. [95] At least four scientific expedition stations and camps had been established on the ice sheet in the ice-covered central part of Greenland (indicated as pale blue in the adjacent map ...
Greenland. Outline map of Greenland with ice sheet depths. (Much of the area in green has permanent snow cover, but less than 10m (33ft) thick.) Geography. Location. Between the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic Ocean. Coordinates. 64°10′N 51°43′W. / 64.167°N 51.717°W / 64.167; -51.717.
