Greenland (Kalaallit Nunaat)
Greenland (Kalaallit Nunaat) is located
at the northern extremities of the Atlantic Ocean, extending northwards deep into
waters of the Arctic Ocean. The Denmark Strait region of the North Atlantic washes
Greenland's southeastern shores and separates it from Iceland (354 km to the southeast); on the southwest is the
Davis Strait, separating it from the southeastern tip of Canada's
Baffin Island. Above the Arctic Circle waters to the west of Greenland comprise
those of the extensive Baffin Bay, with those to the east forming the Greenland Sea.
Ellesmere Island lies off the northwestern coast of Greenland, from which
it is separated by the lengthy Nares Strait. The strait comprises several named
bodies of water: (from north to south) Robeson Channel (up to 29 km in width), Kennedy Channel (up to 32 km in width),
Kane Basin (up to 130 km in width), Smith Sound and Baffin Bay — ultimately linking Baffin Bay with the Lincoln
Sea region of the Arctic Ocean.
Greenland has a total area of 2,166,086 km², making it the largest of the Earth's islands by far. Offshore lie several hundred smaller islands and islets, the largest being the 8,578 km², geothermally active, Disko Island (Qeqertarsuaq) located immediately of the central west coast. Some coastal areas contain a profusion of tiny offshore islands such as the northwest coast Qimusseriarsuaq (Melville Bugt) region. The coastline is highly fractured and indented by fjords and deep channels. The impressive Scoresby Sund (Kangertittivaq) is the longest fjord in the world, cutting into the Greenland interior for some 350 km; it is also one of the deepest, with depths of over 1,500 m. The island has maximum elevation of 3,694 m, reached at the peak of Gunnbjørn Fjeld in the Watkins Mountains of eastern Greenland. Gunnbjørn Fjeld is also the highest peak within the Arctic Circle.
Dominating the Greenland landscape is the immense Greenland Ice Cap, burying some 1,755,637 km² (81% of the total area) of Greenland beneath snow, ice and glaciers. Contrary to popular misconception, however, not all of Greenland is covered in ice — an immense area of some 410,000 km² remains ice-free. Ice-free regions include a variable width coastal strip around most of the island's 40,000 km long perimeter and an extensive area from Washington Land in the northwest, through Peary Land in the extreme north and to Kronprins Christian Land in the far northeast where conditions are too dry to support the development of an ice sheet.
The northeastern sections of Greenland between the Petermann Glacier in the northwest and Kong Oscar Fjord and Rypefjord in the southeast (essentially the entire northeastern quadrant of the island) is protected as the Northeast Greenland National Park and international biosphere reserve. Proclaimed in 1974, the park covers an area of 972,000 km². The park is an important breeding ground of the Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus) and the Musk Ox (Ovibos moschatus).