Query: The melting Greenland ice sheet is already a major contributor to rising sea level and if it was eventually lost entirely, the oceans would rise by six metres around the world, flooding many of the world’s largest cities.

Relevant passages:
Greenland <=SEP=> Greenland ( -LSB- ˈɡriːnlənd -RSB- Kalaallit Nunaat -LSB- kaˈlaːɬit ˈnunaːt -RSB- Grønland -LSB- ˈɡ̊ʁɶnˌlanˀ -RSB- ) is an autonomous constituent country within the Kingdom of Denmark between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans , east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago . Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America , Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe ( specifically Norway and Denmark , the colonial powers , as well as the nearby island of Iceland ) for more than a millennium . The majority of its residents are Inuit , whose ancestors began migrating from the Canadian mainland in the 13th century , gradually settling across the island .   Greenland is the world 's largest island ( Australia , although larger , is generally considered to be a continental landmass rather than an island ) . Three-quarters of Greenland is covered by the only permanent ice sheet outside Antarctica . With a population of about 56,480 ( 2013 ) , it is the least densely populated country in the world . The Arctic Umiaq Line ferry acts as a lifeline for western Greenland , connecting the various cities and settlements .   Greenland has been inhabited off and on for at least the last 4,500 years by Arctic peoples whose forebears migrated there from what is now Canada . Norsemen settled the uninhabited southern part of Greenland beginning in the 10th century , and Inuit peoples arrived in the 13th century . The Norse colonies disappeared in the late 15th century . Soon after their demise , beginning in 1499 , the Portuguese briefly explored and claimed the island , naming it Terra do Lavrador ( later applied to Labrador in Canada ) . In the early 18th century , Scandinavian explorers reached Greenland again . To strengthen trading and power , Denmark-Norway affirmed sovereignty over the island .   Denmark -- Norway claimed Greenland for centuries . Greenland was settled by Vikings ( of Norwegian origin ) more than a thousand years ago , who had previously settled Iceland to escape persecution from the King of Norway and his central government . Vikings set sail from Greenland and Iceland , encountering North America nearly 500 years before Columbus reached the Caribbean islands . They attempted to colonize land . Though under continuous influence of Norway and Norwegians , Greenland was not formally under the Norwegian crown until 1262 . The Kingdom of Norway was extensive and a military power until the mid-14th century . Norway was dramatically hit with a larger death toll than Denmark by the Black Death , forcing Norway to accept a union in which the central government , university and other fundamental institutions were located in Copenhagen . Thus , the two kingdoms ' resources were directed at creating Copenhagen . Norway became the weaker part and lost sovereignty over Greenland in 1814 when the union was dissolved . Greenland became a Danish colony in 1814 , and was made a part of the Danish Realm in 1953 under the Constitution of Denmark .   In 1973 , Greenland joined the European Economic Community with Denmark . However , in a referendum in 1982 , a majority of the population voted for Greenland to withdraw from the EEC which was effected in 1985 . Greenland contains the world 's largest and most northernly national park , Northeast Greenland National Park ( Kalaallit Nunaanni nuna eqqissisimatitaq ) . Established in 1974 and expanded to its present size in 1988 , it protects 972001 km2 of the interior and northeastern coast of Greenland and is bigger than all but twenty-nine countries in the world . Greenland is divided into four municipalities - Sermersooq , Kujalleq , Qaasuitsup , and Qeqqata .   In 1979 , Denmark had granted home rule to Greenland , and in 2008 , Greenlanders voted in favour of the Self-Government Act , which transferred more power from the Danish royal government to the local Greenlandic government . Under the new structure , in effect since 21 June 2009 , Greenland can gradually assume responsibility for policing , judicial system , company law , accounting , and auditing ; mineral resource activities ; aviation ; law of legal capacity , family law and succession law ; aliens and border controls ; the working environment ; and financial regulation and supervision , while the Danish government retains control of foreign affairs and defence . It also retains control of monetary policy , providing an initial annual subsidy of DKK 3.4 billion , which is planned to diminish gradually over time . Greenland expects to grow its economy based on increased income from the extraction of natural resources . The capital , Nuuk , held the 2016 Arctic Winter Games . At 70 % , Greenland has one of the highest shares of renewable energy in the world , mostly coming from hydropower .

Greenland ice sheet <=SEP=> The Greenland ice sheet ( Grønlands indlandsis , Sermersuaq ) is a vast body of ice covering 1710000 km ² , roughly 80 % of the surface of Greenland .   It is the second largest ice body in the world , after the Antarctic ice sheet . The ice sheet is almost 2400 km long in a north-south direction , and its greatest width is 1100 km at a latitude of 77 ° N , near its northern margin . The mean altitude of the ice is 2135 m . The thickness is generally more than 2 km and over 3 km at its thickest point . It is not the only ice mass of Greenland -- isolated glaciers and small ice caps cover between 76000 and around the periphery . If the entire 2850000 km3 of ice were to melt , it would lead to a global sea level rise of 7.2 m . The Greenland Ice Sheet is sometimes referred to under the term inland ice , or its Danish equivalent , indlandsis . It is also sometimes referred to as an ice cap .

Ice sheet <=SEP=> An ice sheet is a mass of glacier ice that covers surrounding terrain and is greater than 50000 km2 , thus also known as continental glacier . The only current ice sheets are in Antarctica and Greenland ; during the last glacial period at Last Glacial Maximum ( LGM ) the Laurentide ice sheet covered much of North America , the Weichselian ice sheet covered northern Europe and the Patagonian Ice Sheet covered southern South America .   Ice sheets are bigger than ice shelves or alpine glaciers . Masses of ice covering less than 50,000 km2 are termed an ice cap . An ice cap will typically feed a series of glaciers around its periphery .   Although the surface is cold , the base of an ice sheet is generally warmer due to geothermal heat . In places , melting occurs and the melt-water lubricates the ice sheet so that it flows more rapidly . This process produces fast-flowing channels in the ice sheet -- these are ice streams .   The present-day polar ice sheets are relatively young in geological terms . The Antarctic Ice Sheet first formed as a small ice cap ( maybe several ) in the early Oligocene , but retreating and advancing many times until the Pliocene , when it came to occupy almost all of Antarctica . The Greenland ice sheet did not develop at all until the late Pliocene , but apparently developed very rapidly with the first continental glaciation . This had the unusual effect of allowing fossils of plants that once grew on present-day Greenland to be much better preserved than with the slowly forming Antarctic ice sheet .