Geography of Greenland
Greenland is an island located between the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic Ocean, northeast of Canada and west 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). Natural resources include zinc, lead, iron ore, coal, molybdenum, gold, platinum, uranium, fish, seals, whales
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
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
dominates North Atlantic Ocean between North America and Europe; sparse population confined to small settlements along coast; world's second largest ice cap
