Investigating Icebergs in Ilulissat

Ilulissat, Greenland

September 20, 2026

The actual city is near the Ilulissat Icefjord, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  An icefjord is an inlet that is filled with pieces of ice that have broken off from a fast moving glacier. The Ilulissat Icefjord is known for its enormous icebergs.

Fun Facts:

• The city is home to almost as many sled dogs as people!

• Ilulissat is sometimes referred to as the Iceberg Capital of the World.

• The area is a favorite feeding ground for migrating whales (and we saw one).

After staying up to watch the Northern Lights last night, we woke up a little later than usual, had a nice breakfast, and then headed down to the lower level of the Polaris to get on a zodiac boat and head into shore.

As we headed to the dock, we saw some large storage tanks near the shore. After asking our Viking guide/Zodiac pilot, we found out that they were storage tanks filled with fuel to provide needed energy to the town throughout the winter. These resources are needed because the bay may be frozen over or filled with icebergs; thus, preventing essential deliveries. Approximately 5,000 people live in Ilulissat.

Our excursion for today was visiting the Icefjord Centre. The Greenlandic word Ilulissat literally means icebergs. This is due to the fact that the local glacier is one of the fastest and most active glaciers in the entire world. Because it moves so fast, the glacier generates a lot of icebergs. In fact, it is thought that the Iceberg that sunk the Titanic came from this glacier.

The Icefjord Center was very interesting as it focused on the geologic, historic, and cultural impact of the glacier on the local land and people. (There will be educational resources posted about this.) The method of display was artistically very clever. Items representing different periods in history were displayed in glass sculptures designed to look like pieces of glacial ice.

In the end, this town's identity is entwined with the glacial icebergs. The melt rate of this glacier has been accelerating over recent decades. This glacier covers much of Greenland and is the second largest body of ice in the world. (The Antarctic Ice Sheet is the largest.) So here are some pictures of icebergs we saw.

Let's start with the face of the glacier that is creating the icebergs.

And here are some of the various icebergs that have come off the glacier.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

And finally, as we were winding down for the day, and watching the icebergs as the ship left port, we saw a whale; specifically a humpback! Talking to other guests the one we saw was part of a group of three that had been hanging around for about an hour. Sooo cool!

Dogs (and possible other wildlife) of the Day

OK - this isn't really a dog, but it sort of looks like a white dog sitting on an iceberg. Right???

Birds

We saw a juvenile White-Tailed Eagle fly by when we were eating breakfast. Although we didn't get a picture of it, we could tell immediately by its size, that it wasn't a gull. Later we found out from the ship's ornithologist that the eagle was being chased by some gulls. Unfortunately for the juvenile gull, the eagle overcame the juvenile gull. The cycle of life....

Daily Selfie : that's the Icefjord behind us.

Tomorrow we arrive in Uummannaq - Santa's Greenland summer home. This is the small town where thousands of letters to Santa Claus are received every year. There's more to that story that we will share in our blog tomorrow. Please come back to hear how the town (and Santa) handles all those letters.