Maniitsoq ice sheet is a 58 by 41 km (36 by 25.5 mi) ice sheet

Ice sheet

An ice sheet is a mass of glacier ice that covers surrounding terrain and is greater than 50,000 km² , thus also known as continental glacier...

 in the Qeqqata

Qeqqata

Qeqqata is a new municipality in western Greenland, operational from 1 January 2009. The municipality was named after its location in central-western part of the country. Its population is 9,677 as of January 2010. The administrative center of the municipality is in Sisimiut...

 municipality in western Greenland

Greenland

Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located 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 for...

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Geography

There are no settlements in the vicinity of the ice sheet. In the southeast, Maniitsoq ice sheet is separated from the westward tongue of the Greenland ice sheet

Greenland ice sheet

The Greenland ice sheet is a vast body of ice covering , 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 long in a north-south direction, and its greatest width is at a latitude of 77°N, near its...

  by the narrow Kangerlussuatsiaup Qingua valley.

In the south, several mountain glaciers drain it towards the upper reaches of the Kangerlussuatsiaq Fjord

Kangerlussuatsiaq Fjord

Kangerlussuatsiaq Fjord is a fjord in the Qeqqata municipality in western Greenland. Taking its source in the tidewater glaciers draining the Maniitsoq ice sheet, the fjord flows in a deep canyon through a mountainous, uninhabited region, emptying into Davis Strait near the settlement of...

. To the west, the ice sheet is drained by the long Sermitsiaq Glacier

Sermitsiaq Glacier

Sermitsiaq Glacier is a tidewater glacier in the Qeqqata municipality in western Greenland. It drains Maniitsoq ice sheet into two fjords flowing towards Davis Strait: Kangaamiut Kangerluarsuat Fjord in the north, and the longer Kangerlussuatsiaq Fjord in the south....

. To the northwest, numerous mountain glaciers drain it towards Kangerlussuaq Fjord

Kangerlussuaq Fjord

Kangerlussuaq Fjord is a long fjord in the Qeqqata municipality in central-western Greenland. The fjord is long and between and wide, flowing from the estuary of Qinnguata Kuussua river to the southwest, and emptying into Davis Strait...

. To the northeast of the icesheet lies the wide highland of Angujaartorfiup Nunaa, home to herds of muskoxen, originally reintroduced in its northern part from the populations of the Northeast Greenland National Park

Northeast Greenland National Park

Northeast Greenland National Park is the largest national park in the world, with an area of , making the park larger than 163 countries. It is the only national park in Greenland, and the most northerly national park in the world, its most northerly point reaching slightly further than the most...

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