Greenland's changing climate and culture

Travel

Greenland's changing climate and culture.

The Inuits, like the woman shown here, originally migrated to the Russian Far East, then across Alaska and Canada, reaching Greenland about 4,500 years ago. Today they are forced to cope with a changing environment and lifestyle.

Icebergs calving from the front of the Kangerdlussuaq Glacier in East Greenland.

A Swiss camp on the western edge of the Greenland ice cap, where reseachers from the National Science Foundation and NASA measure how climate change is affecting the ice.

Inuits complain that diminishing ice, on sea and land, has shortened the season for dog sled tours by months. Greenland's estimated 30,000 sled dogs (in a population of 57,000 people) have suffered. The large dogs are expensive to feed and many are becoming undernourished and diseased. Some are simply shot when owners can't afford to feed them.

The new MS Fram is surrounded by ice in Disko Bay. The Fram was named after a 19th-century polar ship and was built for Arctic and Antarctic expedition cruises. Greenland, the world's largest island, is 85 percent covered by ice. But that's changing with global warming.

A section of the ice sheet covering much of Greenland also illustrates how the ice is thinning.

Powerful icebreakers near the Arctic ice pack north of Greenland.

A fjord near Ilulissat, Greenland. The nearby Sermeq Kujalleq glacier, a U.N. heritage site, has thinned in recent years in what scientists say is one of the most glaring signs of global warming.

A record amount of Greenland's ice sheet melted this summer - 13 billion tons more than the previous high mark, according to U.S. scientists .

The finished product of Chilean-born Danish artist Marco Evaristti's 'Ice Cube Project' in Ilullissat, Greenland. Evaristti used 780 gallons of dye, three fire hoses, two icebreakers and a 20-man crew to spray the chunk of ice for his artwork. Technically Greenland remains a part of the Danish kingdom, as it has been since the 18th century.

Icebergs drift from Jacobshavn Glacier, a UNESCO World Heritage site near Ilulissat.

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The Inuits, like the woman shown here, originally migrated to the Russian Far East, then across Alaska and Canada, reaching Greenland about 4,500 years ago. Today they are forced to cope with a changing environment and lifestyle.

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