Geography

Greenland is the world’s largest island. Two-thirds of the island lies within the Arctic Circle. Greenland ice sheet is between 400,000 and 800,000 years old. The Greenland Ice Sheet has an average thickness of 5,000 feet and it is the second largest in the world. A 100 square mile chunk of ice broke off the Peterman Glacier. Most of the land beneath the ice is at or below sea level. More than 50 percent of its ice-free area consists of rocks of the Precambrian era, mostly granites and gneisses. Greenland is 3 times the size of the U.S. state Texas. The entire coastline of Greenland is deeply indented by fjords, which are landforms created during a period of glaciations. Its longest fjord extends 340 km inland. Greenland was actually quite green more than 2.5 million years ago. Nowadays, dwarf trees are found in the southern coastal areas. Plant life is characterized mainly as tundra vegetation and, as such, Greenland’s natural vegetation includes mosses, lichens, grasses, and sedges. The country is geographically part of North America, but politically is part of Europe. It is about 2.16 million square kilometers big. There are no roads or railway system that connect settlements to one another. A total of 40 glaciers cover the landmass and Greenland’s major mountain ranges include Watkins Range.

Climate

Greenland’s climate is arctic, modified only by the slight influence of the Gulf Stream in the southwest. Large areas of the island can be classified as Arctic deserts because of their limited precipitation. An eastward progression of low-pressure air masses over a permanent layer of cold air above the island’s icy interior increase weather variability, thus rapid weather changes, from sunshine to impenetrable blizzards, are fairly common. Greenland’s annual mean-temperature is below zero. The lowest temperature ever recorded in Greenland was -70 degrees Celsius at the northern most tip of the ice-cap. Greenland experiences 2 months of midnight sun every year. The edges of the inland ice experience frequent hurricanes and snow storms. Rapid weather changes arise from eastward progression of warm air over Greenlands’ permanent cold air. Greenland experiences about two months of midnight sun during the summer. The air is generally very dry. Global warming is profoundly affecting not only Greenland’s climate but also its physical geography. In 2012, 97 percent of the ice sheet showed some signs of melting. Greenland is losing 200 billion tons of ice per year and this change even revealed a new island off the coast of Greenland.

People

Greenland has a population of 56,480. The sparse populations are confined to small settlements along the coast, but close to one-quarter of Greenland’s population lives in the capital, Nuuk. More than 90 percent of Greenland’s population lives along the west coast. At the beginning of the 10th century, Norsemen from Iceland settled. Some Greenlanders continue to practise some of the centuries-old traditions. The official languages of Greenland are Greenlandic and Danish. 12% of Greenlanders are of European descent, mainly Danish. The Tunumiit of Eastern Greenland speak Tunumiit Oraasait. The majority religion is Evangelical Lutheran. School in Greenland is compulsory between ages 6 and 16. Life expectancy in Greenland is comparable to the world average. Dogsleds and snowmobiles are common forms of travel. In 1996, 51 divorces were completed. Many people are likely to spend their days alone. Greenland’s population growth was zero at the start of the 21st century