Ilulissat Icefjord
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How it came to be
Ilulissat Icefjord lies on the west coast of Greenland, about 250 km north of the Arctic Circle. It is one of the few places where the Greenland ice cap reaches the sea, at the mouth of the Sermeq Kujalleq glacier, one of the fastest-moving glaciers in the world. It calves more ice each year than any other glacier outside Antarctica.
At Sermermiut beside the fjord lie remains of three cultures, Saqqaq, Early Dorset and Thule, and people have lived here for at least about 4,000 years. The oldest ice in the ice cap is about 250,000 years old and holds a record of past climate.
The glacier has been studied for more than 250 years and has done much to advance glaciology and the understanding of climate change. A nature protection act of 2003 and a protection order of 2007 cover the area, where mining is banned. It was inscribed in 2004.
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