Ilulissat Icefjord

A fjord where one of the world's fastest glaciers pours colossal icebergs into Disko Bay.

Its star is the Sermeq Kujalleq glacier, also known as Jakobshavn Isbræ, one of the fastest-moving glaciers in the world. It flows 20 to 35 m a day and sends about 20 billion tonnes of icebergs out of the fjord each year. UNESCO made the icefjord a World Heritage Site in 2004. Because of its natural beauty and its role in climate science, UNESCO protects the area.

Why is the ice so important?

The ice here is up to about 250,000 years old, so scientists study it to learn about past climates. The fast-moving glacier also helped them understand how people are changing the climate today.

The huge icebergs sometimes get stuck on the shallow bottom of the fjord for years until the glacier and other icebergs push them loose. Larger icebergs usually do not melt until they reach 40 to 45 degrees north, farther south than the United Kingdom.

Life by the ice

People have lived in this area for almost 4,000 years. The Sermermiut site holds remains from three Inuit cultures, the Saqqaq, Early Dorset and Thule.

Today people from Ilulissat and nearby settlements fish and hunt here, for example for Greenland halibut and ringed seals, often using dogsleds in winter. Tourism has grown since the 1980s, especially after the World Heritage listing.

On the globe

The model shows a fjord where a glacier pours huge icebergs into Disko Bay.