There was no green land on Greenland. This huge island is said to have been named "Greenland" to invite people to settle there. I deeply agreed with this idea as soon as I looked down through the window. Take a look at the following pictures. I'm sure you'll feel as I did. On the other hand, the name of Iceland which I'll pass over soon is for fighting off the newly coming people.
Anyway I assumed that there was nothing worthy of gazing at on the ground of Greenland and I didn't look out of the window over Greenland. When the plane was about to go out over the Atlantic Ocean, I looked down and found a few beautiful glaciers. I took some pictures to know their name later, but I couldn't identify their name on the net.
After coming back, I visited a few websites concerning the cryogenic science and learned that Greenland along with Antarctica are the principal research objects for scientists. I learned the technical term of "ice sheet". It apparently is distinguished from glaciers.
デンマーク領グリーンランドに緑の場所は無かった（笑）。人の移住を促すためにこの名が付いたと言うがなるほどである。反対に次に通過するはずのアイスランドは人を寄せ付けないようにするためにアイスという名前が付けられたと聞いた。もうすぐ上空に至る。どんな大地なのか、楽しみ。
さて、真っ白の大地に見るべきものはないと思い下を見なかった怠慢が残念、ふと下を眺めると巨大な氷河が海に流れ込んでいる雄大な景色が見えた。
帰国後調べてみるとグリーンランドは南極大陸とともに氷床と氷河の研究のメッカだという。この氷河にも名前が付いていると思うが、よくわからなかった。
(Vocabulary)
ice sheet 氷床
cryogenic 超[極]低温(貯蔵)の.
Cryogenic Research Center 低温科学研究センター
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