What is the name of the polar desert that covers most of Greenland?

The polar desert covering most of Greenland is the Greenland ice sheet. It is a vast mass of land-based glacial ice covering about 80% of Greenland’s surface, making it the largest body of ice in the Northern Hemisphere.

The ice sheet formed as snowfall accumulated, compacted and recrystallized over millions of years. Its ice reaches roughly 3.2 kilometres in thickness at its deepest points, and the sheet contains enough frozen water to raise global sea levels by about 7.4 metres if it melted completely.

“Arctic” and “Antarctic” are regional or climatic terms, not the name of Greenland’s ice cover. The Greenland ice sheet is also different from Arctic sea ice: it rests on land, while sea ice forms by freezing ocean water. Ice flows slowly outward toward Greenland’s coast, where outlet glaciers can calve icebergs into the sea.

Greenland’s ice sheet is currently losing mass as the Arctic warms. Its changes matter worldwide because meltwater contributes directly to rising sea levels.