Ilulissat Icefjord is located on the west coast of Greenland, 250 km north of the Arctic Circle. Greenland’s Ilulissat Icefjord is the sea mouth of Sermeq Kujalleq, one of the few glaciers through which the Greenland ice cap reaches the sea. It is the first site in Greenland and one of the first in the Arctic to be included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

credit: Greenland Travel

Arctic climate is now rapidly warming, so Greenland Ice Sheet shrinks faster. Greenland’s ice sheet, which is two-miles thick and covers an area about the size of Mexico, has lost mass at an accelerated rate over the last decade. Glaciers in west Greenland are melting 100 times faster at their end points beneath the ocean than they are at their surfaces, according to a NASA/university study. It is caused by warmer ocean waters. This reason is a dominant factor in the current evolution of Greenland’s glaciers.

credit: jtstewart