Ilulissat Icefjord, A Glacial Wonderland of Transient Beauty

Avannaata, Greenland

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Introduction

The Illulissat Icefjord, located approximately 250 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle, is a stunning natural wonder situated on the west coast of Greenland and is one of the few glaciers that flows into the sea through the Greenland Ice Sheet. It is one of the world's most active glaciers and has been approved by the United Nations as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The source of the icefjord is the Jakobshavn Glacier, one of the largest glaciers besides those in Antarctica and one of the largest in the northern hemisphere. Snowfall every year accumulates on top of the glacier, compressing older snow and transforming it into ice. The glacier spreads outward and thickens over time. Since the water depth in Disko Bay is shallow, the collapsed glaciers cannot drift quickly towards the deep sea, accumulating in the sea and creating the spectacular Illulissat Icefjord. The speed of the ice flow reaches up to 40 meters per day, and the glacier increases by over 35 cubic kilometers annually, accounting for 10% of the entire Greenland ice sheet, more than any other glacier in the world. The ice flow in the Illulissat Icefjord is a significant example of the final glacier age of the Earth's Quaternary period, attracting scientific attention for 250 years and has advanced research in ice caps, glacier studies, climate change, and related geomorphology.