Geography of Greenland
Greenland is a northern North American island between the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic Ocean, northeast of Canada, at 72 00 N, 40 00 W. The country 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 Gunnbjorn (3,700 m). Natural resources include zinc, lead, iron ore, coal, molybdenum, gold, platinum, uranium, fish, sealss, whales
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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 kmÃÂò
land:
2,175,600 kmÃÂò (341,700 kmÃÂò ice-free, 1,833,900 kmÃÂò 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 kmÃÂò
Natural hazards
continuous permafrost over northern two-thirds of the island
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