Geography of Greenland
Geography of the world's largest island / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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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.
Native name: Kalaallit Nunaat Grønland Greenland | |
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Geography | |
Location | Between the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic Ocean |
Coordinates | 64°10′N 51°43′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 | |
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 |
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.