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  • Even an iceberg itself can grow icesicles. Photo by Samuel Letecheur

How a snowflake becomes an iceberg

The eternal snow. Year after year it descends on Greenland. Each snowflake is formed by water vapour freezing around a tiny speck of dust.

No two snowflakes are alike or follow the same path. They fall one by one and form a seamless blanket of whiteness that covers everything.

Continues further down the page...

Package Tours

Greenland Tours: Hounds of Snow

Greenland Tours

Hounds of snow

8 day dogsledding trip in East Greenland

FROM €2,835
Greenland Tours: Northern Lights & Icebergs

Greenland Tours

Northern Lights & Icebergs

4 days in Ilulissat incl. dog sledding & Northern Lights tour

FROM €830
Disko Line: Icefjord Cruise

Disko Line

Icefjord Cruise

Get closer to the impressive Greenlandic nature with Icefjord Cruise.

FROM €93
Greenland by Topas – Summer tour: Disko Island, Icebergs and Eqi Glacier

Greenland by Topas

Summer tour: Disko Island, Icebergs and Eqi Glacier

Experience Disko Island’s glaciers, Disko Bay’s huge icebergs and legendary whales, then further north, Eqi Glacier's deafening calving events.

FROM €3,617
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As time passes, the blanket of snow gets thicker. The snow becomes more compact, denser and heavier. The snow crystals become a solid mass of ice, aided by the cycle of frost and thaw. This is how Greenland’s Ice Sheet was formed 2-3 million years ago – and how it continues to grow and recede today. At its highest point, the ice is more than 3 kilometres thick. The oldest ice can be as many as 100,000 years old.

The ice moves

Gravity and pressure from the enormous weight of ice cause the massive glacier to move. The smaller glaciers, like blue-white tongues of ice, slowly gravitate down all slopes. They carry stones with them, crevices and lakes are formed, whilst meltwater moves through, over and under the ice.

The journey ends in the Greenlandic fjords, where the glaciers calve and a new journey then begins. An enormous rumble and a great splash accompany the birth of an iceberg as fragments of ice break off the glacier. Such icebergs can be as high as 15-story buildings – with just 1/9 or so visible above the surface of the water.

Only in the Arctic or Antarctic

Icebergs are a natural phenomenon that can only be experienced in the Arctic and Antarctic regions. Travel to the Ice Sheet and the icebergs in Greenland, which are one of the Big Arctic Five experiences. Let yourself be enthralled by the magnificence of the icebergs, the magical interplay of colours and the sculptural shapes. And by their incredible history. Remember: Once they were once just tiny snowflakes.

Visit the ice

Need some ideas for how to experience ice in Greenland? Perhaps kayaking around icebergs in South Greenland is something for you, or even ice diving in East Greenland for the very adventurous. Otherwise, the standby of taking a boat tour at the mouth of Ilulissat Icefjord is a timeless favourite.

Explore related articles, offers and tour providers:

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By Sarah Woodall

Sarah is a former Visit Greenland employee who now continues the adventure as Destination Manager in South Greenland.

https://2kalaallitnunaatigo.wordpress.com/

Editors' pick

Immersing overwelmed by the surroundings. Photo by Aningaaq Rosing Carlsen - Visit Greenland

Editor’s guide: How to spend 4 days in East Greenland

An occupational hazard as an editor is that I read about and collect the most beautiful bucket list destinations, and East Greenland has long been one of mine.

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Paninnguaq Pikilak. Inuit tattoos. Photo by Aningaaq Rosing Carlsen - Visit Greenland

A guide to Inuit Tattoos in Greenland

Inuit tattoos have had a revival in recent years, with many young people, among others, breathing life into the traditional lines. However, it has deep roots in Inuit communities, both spiritually and culturally.

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Ruined vehicle with the landscape of Ikkatteq in East Greenland, where the Americans once had a military base. Photo by Reinhard Pantke - Visit Greenland

13 Ghost Towns in Greenland

There are many abandoned places in Greenland, and there are, obviously, several reasons for the abandonment: The hunting grounds moved, The natural minerals were used up, Forced displacement for military purposes, The need for a workforce elsewhere.

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Camping under the sunset. Photo by Mark Hutchison

Camping and exploration logistics in Greenland

For packing a tent, booking a flight and heading into nature, the considerations for exploration logistics are where, when, how, and most importantly what are the risks and how to manage them?

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