Geography of Greenland
Image of Greenland taken by NASA
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). Natural resources include zinc, lead, iron ore, coal, molybdenum, gold, platinum, uranium, fish, sealss, whales
| Table of contents |
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2 Land use 3 Irrigated land 4 Natural hazards 5 Environment - current issues 6 Geography - note |
Maritime claims:
Area
total:
2,175,600 kmò
land:
2,175,600 kmò (341,700 kmò ice-free, 1,833,900 kmò ice-covered) (est.)
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 kmò
Natural hazards
continuous ice-cap covers 84% of the country
the rest is permafrostEnvironment - 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