Helheim Glacier is a glacier in the Sermersooq municipality, Eastern Greenland.
Helheim Glacier | |
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Helheim Gletscher | |
Location within Greenland | |
Location | Sermersooq, Greenland |
Coordinates | 66°21′N 38°12′W / 66.350°N 38.200°W |
Terminus | Helheim Fjord, Sermilik, North Atlantic Ocean |
This glacier's name is derived from "Helheim", a modern term for a world of the dead in Old Norse religion: Hel.
The Helheim Glacier is located on the eastern side of the Greenland ice sheet. It is one of Greenland's largest outlet glaciers.[1][2][3] It flows roughly in an ESE direction and feeds the waters of the Helheim Fjord, a branch at the northern end of the Sermilik (Danish: Egede og Rothes Fjord) system, where there are a number of other glaciers calving and discharging at rapid rates such as the Fenris and the Midgard Glacier.[4]
Helheim Glacier accelerated from 8 km (5.0 mi) per year in 2000 to 11 km (6.8 mi) per year in 2005.[5] Like many of Greenland's outlet glaciers, it is a common site where glacial earthquakes are monitored.[6]
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: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Ekström, G., M. Nettles, and V. C. Tsai (2006)"Seasonality and Increasing Frequency of Greenland Glacial Earthquakes", Science, 311, 5768, 1756–1758, doi:10.1126/science.1122112