According to recent research, the three main glaciers, namely the Helheim Glacier, Jacob von Isbre and Kenglussuge Glacier, have enough frozen water to lift the global sea level to around 1.3 metres. It melted earlier than anticipated. The current situation indicates that until 2000, due to the melting of many glaciers, sea levels were increasing. But Greenland and Antarctica`s ice sheets have been the single largest cause of sea-level rise in the last 20 years.

 

♦ The research found that between 1880 and 2012, Jakobshavn Isbrae (also known as Ilulissat Glacier Greenland) lost more than 1.5 trillion tonnes of ice. It further illustrates that the Kangerlussuaq and Helheim glaciers lost 1.4 trillion tonnes and 31 billion tons, respectively, between 1900 and 2012. The researchers found out that the sea level has risen by 8 millimetres with this melting.

♦ 6.5 percent of the ice sheet of Greenland is released by the Ilulissat Glacier. Around 10 per cent of Greenland`s icebergs are formed. Typically, icebergs which burst from glaciers are very wide, up to 1 km in height. Jakobshavn Glacier was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2004. Located near the town of Ilulissat, Greenland, the Ilulissat Glacier ends in the sea on the Ilulissat Ice Fjord.

♦ On the east coast of the Greenland Ice Sheet, the Kangerlussuaq Glacier is the largest glacier. Kangerlussuaq flows into the Kangerlussuaq Fjord, which is the second-largest fjord in eastern Greenland.

♦ One of the main glacier sources in Greenland is the Helheim Glacier. In Norse mythology, it is named after the Realm of the Dead. For the Helmil Fjord (a branch of the Sermilik system), Helheim provides water. Greenland`s largest glacier can melt more rapidly than expected.