The ice sheet
Often asked about the ice sheet:
- Season: Summer. The weather is milder and you can see meltwater lakes on top of the ice sheet in the most beautiful turquoise blue colors. Fall/winter/spring – Northern Lights, dog sledding and snowmobiling. Winter can be extremely cold.
- Transportation to the Ice Sheet: Access to the Ice Sheet from cities such as Kangerlussuaq, Ilulissat or Tasiilaq. From here you must be transported to the ice sheet in a vehicle designed for the terrain.
- Organized tours: Hiking, dog sledding, helicopter tours, snowmobiling and accommodation. We organize tours with tour operators where safety is guaranteed and where the guides have the necessary knowledge and expertise about the area and weather conditions. Contact us and we will help you.
- Attractions: In addition to the sight of endless ice floes being an attraction in itself, special natural phenomena are also worth mentioning; glaciers, icebergs, meltwater rivers and lakes, the light and the wild silence.
- Clothing: Wear several layers of thermal clothing, windproof outerwear, warm boots, mittens and hat. Sunglasses and sunscreen due to glare from snow and ice. Spikes buckle on boots.
- Accommodation on the Inland Ice: It is possible to sleep in a camp on the Inland Ice. We will help you arrange this. Sleeping in camp on the ice sheet.
- Safety and preparation: We recommend exploring the ice sheet with experienced guides. Information about the risks of crevasses and extreme weather conditions is a must!
Hike on the ice sheet. Photo; Alex Savu, Visit Greenland
The mighty ice sheet.
The Greenland ice sheet is a massive ice cap that covers around 80% of our country’s surface. It is the second largest ice sheet in the world, second only to Antarctica. In some places the ice is up to 3 kilometers thick. Wild. Untouched. Inexplicable. We often hear our travelers come back and say. Greenland is huge. And when you meet the ice sheet, you can turn around and see it for yourself; ice and snow condenses into something that seems endless.
Summer and winter – a landscape of ice.
Ice, in all shapes and sizes, shapes the landscape of Greenland every day, and it has always been that way as far as can be measured; the ice sheet consists of layer upon layer of snow that has been compressed into ice over thousands of years and continues to change. The pressure from the massive amounts of ice on the ice sheet is enormous, and at the edges of the ice sheet, the ice slides along slopes and forms glaciers where the ice moves slowly. When these glaciers reach the water, pieces of ice break off and form icebergs. You don’t stand on the ice sheet and see all this, but with this knowledge, you can stand for a moment – where it all seems to begin – and feel small in all the grandeur.
The ice sheet’s response to past and future climate.
For scientists, the ice sheet has long been the epicenter of international climate research. Environmental changes on the Greenland Ice Sheet are closely monitored to understand the consequences of climate change. Focus areas include melt rates, ice mass balance, meltwater runoff, changes in the movement of ice floes, and the impact of ice on global sea level. Researchers also monitor the effect of darkness from dust and algae, which accelerates melting, and the role of the ice sheet in regulating the Arctic ecosystem and climate patterns. Therefore, the ice sheet is not only a natural phenomenon where answers to geological phenomena of the past are sought, but also where future climate predictions are made.
Maybe good to know – you can look further.
The clear Arctic air seems to affect your vision. A mountain peak, a meltwater lake may seem close, but once you set off, it can be further away than that. Visibility in Greenland and inside the ice sheet can be up to 100 kilometers, making it a difficult discipline for an outsider to measure distances in the vast landscape.
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