Geography of Greenland

Greenland is a northern North American island between the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic Ocean, northeast of Canada, at 72 00 N, 40 00 W. The country has no land boundaries and 44,087 km of coastline.

The climate is arctic to subarctic with cool summers and cold winters. The terrain is mostly a flat but gradually sloping icecap that covers all land except for a narrow, mountainous, barren, rocky coast. The lowest point is at sea level, and the highest is Gunnbjorn (3,700 m). Natural resources include zinc, lead, iron ore, coal, molybdenum, gold, platinum, uranium, fish, sealss, whales

Table of contents

1 Area 2 Land use 3 Irrigated land 4 Natural hazards 5 Environment - current issues 6 Geography - note

Area

total: 2,175,600 km²
land: 2,175,600 km² (341,700 km² ice-free, 1,833,900 km² ice-covered) (est.)

Maritime claims:
exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm
territorial sea: 3 nm

Land use

arable land: 0%
permanent crops: 0%
permanent pastures: 1%
forests and woodland: 0%
other: 99% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land

NA km²

Natural hazards

continuous permafrost over northern two-thirds of the island

Environment - current issues

protection of the arctic environment; preservation of the Inuit traditional way of life, including whaling; note - Greenland participates actively in Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC)

Geography - note

dominates North Atlantic Ocean between North America and Europe; sparse population confined to small settlements along coast; world's second largest ice cap