Geography of Greenland

Greenland
Native name: Kalaallit Nunaat; Grønland; 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
Area	2,166,086 km2 (836,330 sq mi)
Area rank	1st
Coastline	44,087 km (27394.4 mi)
Highest elevation	3,694 m (12119 ft)
Highest point	Gunnbjørn
Administration
	Kingdom of Denmark
Province	Greenland
Largest settlement	Nuuk (Godthåb) (pop. 17,984)
Demographics
Population	56,732 (February 8, 2020)
Pop. density	0.028/km2 (0.073/sq mi)
Ethnic groups	88% Inuit (Inuit-Danish and Inuit-European mixed);; 12% Europeans, mostly Danish.;

Greenland is located between the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic Ocean, northeast of Canada and northwest of Iceland. The territory comprises the island of Greenland—the largest island in the world—and more than a hundred other smaller islands (see alphabetic list). Greenland has a 1.2-kilometer-long (0.75 mi) border with Canada on Hans Island.^[1] A sparse population is confined to small settlements along certain sectors of the coast. Greenland possesses the world's second-largest ice sheet.

Greenland sits atop the Greenland plate, a subplate of the North American plate.^[2]^[3] The Greenland craton is made up of some of the oldest rocks on the face of the earth. The Isua greenstone belt in southwestern Greenland contains the oldest known rocks on Earth, dated at 3.7–3.8 billion years old.^[4]

The vegetation is generally sparse, with the only patch of forested land being found in Nanortalik Municipality in the extreme south near Cape Farewell.

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 elevation is sea level and the highest elevation is the summit of Gunnbjørn Fjeld, the highest point in the Arctic at 3,694 meters (12,119 ft). The northernmost point of the island of Greenland is Cape Morris Jesup, discovered by Admiral Robert Peary in 1900. Natural resources include zinc, lead, iron ore, coal, molybdenum, gold, platinum, uranium, hydropower and fish. The largest settlement on the island is Nuuk (Gotob), 60 009 people (2024). The city is located on a peninsula in the western part of Greenland.

The northernmost point of the island, Cape Morris Jesup, located south of the 84th parallel, was considered the closest land to the North Pole until Kaffeklubben Island was discovered in 1900. The south point is located near 59 north latitude.

^ "On tiny Hans Island, Denmark and Canada create world's newest land border". Big Think. 2022-06-14. Retrieved 2023-07-07.
^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Baffin Bay and Baffin Land" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
^ "Baffin Bay" (PDF). Indian and Northern Affairs Canada. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-06-13. Retrieved 2009-10-04.
^ Appel, Peter W.U., Hugh R. Rollinson, and Jacques L.R. Touret. (2001) "Remnants of an Early Archaean (>3.75 Ga) sea-floor, hydrothermal system in the Isua Greenstone Belt." Precambrian Research, 112.1–2, 15 November, pp. 27–49.

[1] "On tiny Hans Island, Denmark and Canada create world's newest land border". Big Think. 2022-06-14. Retrieved 2023-07-07.

[2] Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Baffin Bay and Baffin Land" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

[3] "Baffin Bay" (PDF). Indian and Northern Affairs Canada. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-06-13. Retrieved 2009-10-04.

[4] Appel, Peter W.U., Hugh R. Rollinson, and Jacques L.R. Touret. (2001) "Remnants of an Early Archaean (>3.75 Ga) sea-floor, hydrothermal system in the Isua Greenstone Belt." Precambrian Research, 112.1–2, 15 November, pp. 27–49.

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