| Maniitsoq Ice Cap | |
| Other Name: | Sukkertoppen iskappe |
| Map: | Greenland |
| Area: | 1600sqkm |
| Length: | 58km (36miles) |
| Thickness: | 400m (1,300feet) average |
| Terminus: | Outlet glaciers |
| Status: | Retreating |
Maniitsoq Ice Cap (old spelling: Manîtsoq, Danish: Sukkertoppen iskappe or Sukkertoppen isflade) is a 58x ice cap[1] in the Qeqqata municipality in western Greenland.
There are no settlements in the vicinity of the ice cap. In the southeast, Maniitsoq ice cap is separated from the westward tongue of the Greenland ice sheet by the narrow Kangerlussuatsiaup Qingua valley. The summit of the ice cap reaches between 1300m (4,300feet) and 1800m (5,900feet).[2] The maximum height is marked as an 8000feet high summit in the Defense Mapping Agency Greenland Navigation charts,[3] although it does not rise above 1850m (6,070feet).[2]
In the south, several mountain glaciers drain it towards the upper reaches of the Kangerlussuatsiaq Fjord. To the west, the ice cap is drained by the long Sermitsiaq Glacier. To the northwest, numerous mountain glaciers drain it towards Kangerlussuaq Fjord.[4] To the northeast of the ice sheet lies the wide highland of Angujaartorfiup Nunaa, home to herds of muskoxen,[5] originally reintroduced in its northern part from the populations of the Northeast Greenland National Park.[6]
