Geography of Greenland
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Greenland is an island located between the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic Ocean, northeast of Canada and northwest of Iceland. Greenland 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 Gunnbjørn (3,700 m). The northernmost point of Greenland proper is Cape Morris Jesup, discovered by Admiral Robert Peary in 1909. Natural resources include zinc, lead, iron ore, coal, molybdenum, gold, platinum, uranium, fish, seals, and whales.
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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 ice-cap covers 84% of the country; the rest is permafrost.
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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
Sparse population confined to small settlements along coast; world's second largest ice cap.
Climate change
There is some concern about a contribution to sea level rise caused by ice melt from Greenland. Between 1997 and 2003 ice loss was 80 +/- 12 km(3) yr(-1), compared to about 60 km(3) yr(-1) for 1993/4-1998/9. Half of the increase was from higher summer melting, with the rest caused by velocities of some glaciers exceeding those needed to balance upstream snow accumulation (Krabill et al., L24402, GRL 2004).
Extreme points
This is a list of the extreme points of Greenland, the points that are farther north, south, east or west than any other location.
Greenland (nation)
- Northernmost Point — Kaffeklubben Island (83°40'N) - the northernmost permanent land in the world.
- Southernmost Point — Cape Farewell, Egger Island (59°46'N)
- Westernmost Point — Cape Alexander (73°08'W)
- Easternmost Point — Nordost Rundingen, Greenland (12°08'W)
Greenland (island)
- Northernmost Point — Cape Morris Jesup (83°39'N)
- Southernmost Point — Peninsula near Nanortalik
- Westernmost Point — Cape Alexander (73°08'W)
- Easternmost Point — Nordost Rundingen, Greenland (12°08'W)