Jakobshavn Glacier

Jakobshavn Glacier, called Sermeq Kujalleq in Greenlandic and Jakobshavn Isbrae in Danish, is a major outlet glacier of the Greenland ice sheet, ending at the sea in the Ilulissat Icefjord near the town of Ilulissat in West Greenland. It drains about 6.5 percent of the Greenland ice sheet through an ice stream more than 65 kilometers long and roughly 2,000 meters thick, and it produces about 10 percent of all Greenland icebergs, with some 35 billion tonnes of ice calving off into the fjord every year. Studied for more than 250 years, the glacier has helped shape modern understanding of climate change and icecap glaciology, and its calving icebergs are estimated to have contributed 4 percent of the rise in global sea level during the 20th century. The Ilulissat Icefjord was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004 largely because of the glacier scientific importance, and while the glacier is currently advancing, it remains one of the world fastest changing glaciers.