World Heritage Identification Number: 1149
World Heritage since: 2004
Category: Natural Heritage
Transboundary Heritage: No
Endangered Heritage: No
Country: 🇩🇰 Denmark
Continent: Europe
UNESCO World Region: Europe and North America
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A Journey Through Time and Ice: The Ilulissat Icefjord
The Ilulissat Icefjord, located on the west coast of Greenland approximately 250 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle, stands as a testament to the enduring power of nature and the ever-evolving relationship between humanity and its environment. This breathtaking natural wonder, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2004, offers visitors a unique opportunity to witness firsthand the intricate dance between a massive ice sheet and the relentless forces of the ocean.
More to come…UNESCO Description of the World Heritage Site
Located on the west coast of Greenland, 250 km north of the Arctic Circle, Greenland’s Ilulissat Icefjord is the sea mouth of Sermeq Kujalleq, one of the few glaciers through which the Greenland ice cap reaches the sea. Sermeq Kujalleq is one of the fastest and most active glaciers in the world. It annually calves over 35 km3 of ice, i.e. 10% of the production of all Greenland calf ice and more than any other glacier outside Antarctica. Studied for over 250 years, it has helped to develop our understanding of climate change and icecap glaciology. The combination of a huge ice-sheet and the dramatic sounds of a fast-moving glacial ice-stream calving into a fjord covered by icebergs makes for a dramatic and awe-inspiring natural phenomenon.
UNESCO Justification of the World Heritage Site
Criterion (viii): The Ilulissat Icefjord is an outstanding example of a stage in the Earth’s history: the last ice age of the Quaternary Period. The ice-stream is one of the fastest (19m per day) and most active in the world. Its annual calving of over 35 cu. km of ice accounts for 10% of the production of all Greenland calf ice, more than any other glacier outside Antarctica. The glacier has been the object of scientific attention for 250 years and, along with its relative ease of accessibility, has significantly added to the understanding of ice-cap glaciology, climate change and related geomorphic processes.
Criterion (vii): The combination of a huge ice sheet and a fast moving glacial ice-stream calving into a fjord covered by icebergs is a phenomenon only seen in Greenland and Antarctica. Ilulissat offers both scientists and visitors easy access for close view of the calving glacier front as it cascades down from the ice sheet and into the ice-choked fjord. The wild and highly scenic combination of rock, ice and sea, along with the dramatic sounds produced by the moving ice, combine to present a memorable natural spectacle.
Encyclopedia Record: Ilulissat Icefjord
Ilulissat Icefjord is a fjord in western Greenland. Located 250 km north of the Arctic Circle, the Ilulissat Icefjord runs west 40 km (25 mi) from the Greenland ice sheet to Disko Bay just south of the town of Ilulissat. Ilulissat Icefjord was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004 because of its natural beauty and the importance of the fast-moving Jacobshavn Glacier in developing the current scientific understanding of anthropogenic climate change.Additional Site Details
Area: 399,800 hectares
(viii) — Outstanding example representing major earth stages
Coordinates: 69.13333333 , -49.5
Image
© Unknown, CC BY-SA 3.0 Resized from original. (This derivative is under the same CC BY-SA license.)
