This glacier's name is derived from "Helheim", a modern term for a world of the dead in Old Norse religion: Hel.

The Helheim Glacier is located on the eastern side of the Greenland ice sheet.

[1][2][3] It flows roughly in an ESE direction and feeds the waters of the Helheim Fjord, a branch at the northern end of the Sermilik (Danish: Egede og Rothes Fjord) system, where there are a number of other glaciers calving and discharging at rapid rates such as the Fenris and the Midgard Glacier.

[4] Helheim Glacier accelerated from 8 km (5.0 mi) per year in 2000 to 11 km (6.8 mi) per year in 2005.

[5] Like many of Greenland's outlet glaciers, it is a common site where glacial earthquakes are monitored.