Big Ice

Just a few hundred metres from the centre of Ilulissat is Greenland’s biggest visitor attraction - Kangia, the Ilulissat Icefjord.  The glacier front is about 70 km (and growing each year!) from the sea.  Once bergs break off the glacier they drop into the 1500m deep fjord they start their long migration to the sea.  Before they can get into the sea they face one final obstacle, a ridge of shallow water (200m) - this means that the big berg get stuck at the mouth of the fjord until the pressure of ice behind (and gradual melting) pushes the bergs over the ridge.  At the sea front the bergs are up to 100m high.

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