<P> It is the second largest ice body in the world , after the Antarctic ice sheet . The ice sheet is almost 2,400 kilometres ( 1,500 mi ) long in a north - south direction , and its greatest width is 1,100 kilometres ( 680 mi ) at a latitude of 77 ° N , near its northern margin . The mean altitude of the ice is 2,135 metres ( 7,005 ft ) . The thickness is generally more than 2 km ( 1.2 mi ) and over 3 km ( 1.9 mi ) at its thickest point . It is not the only ice mass of Greenland -- isolated glaciers and small ice caps cover between 76,000 and 100,000 square kilometres ( 29,000 and 39,000 sq mi ) around the periphery . If the entire 2,850,000 cubic kilometres ( 684,000 cu mi ) of ice were to melt , it would lead to a global sea level rise of 7.2 m ( 24 ft ) . 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 . </P>
where is the world 's largest ice sheet located today greenland alaska iceland antarctica
the Antarctic