Greenland enters the novel as the destination for a planned field investigation into the anomalous worms. Its significance is prospective: Gerhard Bohrmann proposes that the research team go beyond laboratory specimens and examine the animals in their original seabed environment, turning Greenland into the next possible site of inquiry rather than a setting for a completed expedition in the available evidence.

The proposed expedition

Bohrmann suggests using the RV Sonne research vessel, which is due to leave for Greenland in a few weeks. If the ship departed earlier, it could stop at the place where the worms first appeared. The proposal grew out of a discussion between Bohrmann and Heiko Sahling; Bohrmann makes clear that it still requires a decision and is not his alone to authorize. Sigur Johanson considers the idea excellent, recognizing the value of studying the worms in situ rather than relying only on specimens kept in reserve.

A field site beyond the laboratory

The proposed visit marks a shift in method. Preserved or reserved specimens can support further testing, but an examination at the discovery site would place the worms back in the seabed conditions associated with their appearance. Greenland therefore represents a possible bridge between controlled research and the larger marine environment the scientists are trying to understand. The evidence establishes this as an intention, not as a report of the team reaching Greenland or completing the study.

Greenland in the oceanic setting

The novel places this plan within a broader account of the sea as a difficult space to observe and navigate. It describes continental shelves as the submerged continuation of landmasses, generally shallower than the ocean beyond their margins, and presents polar waters as an unfamiliar environment in which familiar visual and bodily cues diminish with depth. These descriptions help frame the kind of marine world the expedition would enter, but they are general accounts of ocean geography and polar water, not specific descriptions of Greenland itself.

Narrative significance

Greenland’s role is defined by what the proposed journey might make knowable. The worms’ appearance has already raised questions that laboratory work alone may not settle; tracing them to their original habitat offers a way to test those questions against the seabed. Yet the plan remains contingent on approval and scheduling. The location thus carries the inquiry forward as an open possibility, while the passage leaves the expedition—and its findings—unconfirmed.