Kangerlussuaq
Encyclopedia
Kangerlussuaq is a settlement in western Greenland
in the Qeqqata
municipality, located at the head of a fjord of the same name
. It is Greenland's main air transport hub, being the site of Greenland's largest commercial airport.
Kangerlussuaq is the Greenlandic word for 'Big Fjord'. Kangerlussuaq was also known as Bluie West Eight and Sondrestrom Air Base during its time as an American
military base. The Kangerlussuaq area is also home to Greenland's most diverse land-based wildlife (such as muskoxen, caribou
and gyrfalcon
s). The combination of these two factors has made Kangerlussuaq a significant tourist centre for most of the year. The settlement's economy and population of 556 is now almost completely reliant on the airport and tourist industry.
flatland on the far end of the 190 km long Kangerlussuaq Fjord
, straddling both sides of the Qinnguata Kuussua
river estuary. East of Kangerlussuaq there is a confluence
of Qinnguata Kuussua and Akuliarusiarsuup Kuua
, the two major regional rivers. The valley of the latter forms large quicksand
plains. Both rivers take their source in the Russell Glacier
. The edge of the glacier is easily accessible, and is a major tourist attraction in Kangerlussuaq, as is the ice sheet
edge in the Isunngua
highlands, to the northeast of Russell Glacier.
Highlands such as Tarajornitsut
with numerous flat ridges oriented east-west bound Kangerlussuaq from the north and the south. To the south-east, behind lake Tasersuatsiaq
(which provides fresh water to the town) is the vast highland of Ammalortup Nunaa, the original region artificially populated with 27 muskoxen.
of the United States Army Air Forces
(USAAF). While Inuit
hunters certainly visited Kangerlussuaq there appears never to have been an Inuit settlement there.
Following the fall of Denmark
to Germany
in World War II
, US forces assumed security for Greenland, building several bases, the largest of which were Bluie West One in Narsarsuaq
in southern Greenland and Bluie West Eight, at the Kangerlussuaq fjord.
The base briefly came under Danish control in 1950, but following mounting concerns about the Cold War
threat, a new agreement saw the United States reopen Bluie West Eight up under the name of Sondrestrom Air Base
on 27 April 1951.
It served as one of the Distant Early Warning Line
bases and a supply station for similar early warning facilities. Following the fall of the Soviet Union
the usefulness of the base was greatly diminished and the last U.S. Air Force personnel left the base on 30 September 1992. The base subsequently came under Greenlandic Home Rule control and was given its first Greenlandic name, Kangerlussuaq. This site and Bluie West One in Narsarsuaq remain Greenland's best-equipped airports. Almost all of the permanent structures in the town were built during the American occupation of the site.
s, Kangerlussuaq Airport
is Greenland's most important transport hub. Hotel Kangerlussuaq
operates at the airport.
's Hurtigruten
and supply ships of Royal Greenland
navigate the fjord, mooring at the Kangerlussuaq port, west of Kangerlussuaq Airport.
Construction of a road to Sisimiut
(170 km) has been discussed for several years without resolution. The cost estimates have been between 250-500 MDKK, depending on road quality, but it has been considered expensive, and therefore the plans are delayed.
, with the area receiving very little rainfall.
and atmospheric
research facility known as the Sondrestrom Upper Atmospheric Research Facility, situated at about 15 km (9.3 mi) west of Kangerlussuaq. It is commonly known around the town as Kellyville. It is operated by the SRI International
for the U.S. National Science Foundation
and the Danish Meteorological Institute
. This facility is host to more than 20 instruments, the majority of which provide unique and complementary information about the arctic
upper atmosphere. The centerpiece instrument of the facility is an L band
incoherent scatter
(IS) radar with a 32 m (105 ft) fully steerable antenna. It has been operational since the ionospheric radar
was transported from Alaska
to Kangerlussuaq in 1983 and it continues to be in high demand by the scientific communities.
Kangerlussuaq has also hosted the Greenland Space Science Symposium in May 2007. The selection of Greenland as a place for the symposium celebrated the rich history of Greenland in using scientific instruments to provide a window into the geospace system.
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...
in the Qeqqata
Qeqqata
Qeqqata is a new municipality in western Greenland, operational from 1 January 2009. The municipality was named after its location in central-western part of the country. Its population is 9,677 as of January 2010. The administrative center of the municipality is in Sisimiut...
municipality, located at the head of a fjord of the same name
Kangerlussuaq Fjord
Kangerlussuaq Fjord is a long fjord in the Qeqqata municipality in central-western Greenland. The fjord is long and between and wide, flowing from the estuary of Qinnguata Kuussua river to the southwest, and emptying into Davis Strait...
. It is Greenland's main air transport hub, being the site of Greenland's largest commercial airport.
Kangerlussuaq is the Greenlandic word for 'Big Fjord'. Kangerlussuaq was also known as Bluie West Eight and Sondrestrom Air Base during its time as an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
military base. The Kangerlussuaq area is also home to Greenland's most diverse land-based wildlife (such as muskoxen, caribou
Reindeer
The reindeer , also known as the caribou in North America, is a deer from the Arctic and Subarctic, including both resident and migratory populations. While overall widespread and numerous, some of its subspecies are rare and one has already gone extinct.Reindeer vary considerably in color and size...
and gyrfalcon
Gyrfalcon
The Gyrfalcon — Falco rusticolus — is the largest of the falcon species. The Gyrfalcon breeds on Arctic coasts and the islands of North America, Europe, and Asia. It is mainly resident there also, but some Gyrfalcons disperse more widely after the breeding season, or in winter.Individual vagrancy...
s). The combination of these two factors has made Kangerlussuaq a significant tourist centre for most of the year. The settlement's economy and population of 556 is now almost completely reliant on the airport and tourist industry.
Geography
Kangerlussuaq occupies an alluvialAlluvium
Alluvium is loose, unconsolidated soil or sediments, eroded, deposited, and reshaped by water in some form in a non-marine setting. Alluvium is typically made up of a variety of materials, including fine particles of silt and clay and larger particles of sand and gravel...
flatland on the far end of the 190 km long Kangerlussuaq Fjord
Kangerlussuaq Fjord
Kangerlussuaq Fjord is a long fjord in the Qeqqata municipality in central-western Greenland. The fjord is long and between and wide, flowing from the estuary of Qinnguata Kuussua river to the southwest, and emptying into Davis Strait...
, straddling both sides of the Qinnguata Kuussua
Qinnguata Kuussua
Qinnguata Kuussua is a river in a valley of the same name in the Qeqqata municipality in central-western Greenland. Its source is a large meltwater outflow from Russell Glacier flowing from the Greenland Ice Sheet. It is the main river in the Kangerlussuaq area. For most of its run, the river is...
river estuary. East of Kangerlussuaq there is a confluence
Confluence
Confluence, in geography, describes the meeting of two or more bodies of water.Confluence may also refer to:* Confluence , a property of term rewriting systems...
of Qinnguata Kuussua and Akuliarusiarsuup Kuua
Akuliarusiarsuup Kuua
Akuliarusiarsuup Kuua is a river and valley of the same name in the Qeqqata municipality in central-western Greenland. Its source is the meltwater outflow from Russell Glacier, an outflow of the Greenland ice sheet. The river is a tributary of Qinnguata Kuussua, the main river in the Kangerlussuaq...
, the two major regional rivers. The valley of the latter forms large quicksand
Quicksand
Quicksand is a colloid hydrogel consisting of fine granular matter , clay, and water.Water circulation underground can focus in an area with the optimal mixture of fine sands and other materials such as clay. The water moves up and then down slowly in a convection-like manner throughout a column...
plains. Both rivers take their source in the Russell Glacier
Russell Glacier
Russell Glacier is a glacier in the Qeqqata municipality in central-western Greenland. It flows from the Greenland ice sheet in the western direction. The front of the glacier is located east of Kangerlussuaq...
. The edge of the glacier is easily accessible, and is a major tourist attraction in Kangerlussuaq, as is the ice sheet
Greenland ice sheet
The Greenland ice sheet is a vast body of ice covering , roughly 80% of the surface of Greenland. It is the second largest ice body in the world, after the Antarctic Ice Sheet. The ice sheet is almost long in a north-south direction, and its greatest width is at a latitude of 77°N, near its...
edge in the Isunngua
Isunngua
Isunngua is a highland in the Qeqqata municipality in central-western Greenland, located immediately west of the Greenland Ice Sheet edge. In large part it is covered by the tundra, although in the immediate vicinity of the Sermersuaq ice sheet it gradually becomes exposed, barren, and largely...
highlands, to the northeast of Russell Glacier.
Highlands such as Tarajornitsut
Tarajornitsut
Tarajornitsut is an uninhabited tundra highland in the Qeqqata municipality in central-western Greenland, within the bounds of Kangaamiut dike swarm. The highland has many lakes, shallow valleys, hills, and wetlands, with plentiful wildlife, such as arctic geese. It is also a major calving ground...
with numerous flat ridges oriented east-west bound Kangerlussuaq from the north and the south. To the south-east, behind lake Tasersuatsiaq
Tasersuatsiaq
Tasersuatsiaq is a lake in central-western Greenland, in the Qeqqata municipality. It is located southeast of Kangerlussuaq, with a depth of , covering an area of 750ha. During the operating years of the American base at Bluie West Eight at Kangerlussuaq the lake was referred to as Lake Ferguson...
(which provides fresh water to the town) is the vast highland of Ammalortup Nunaa, the original region artificially populated with 27 muskoxen.
History
Kangerlussuaq, originally known as Bluie West Eight was founded on 7 October 1941, at the east end of Kangerlussuaq fjord, under the supervision of Colonel Bernt BalchenBernt Balchen
Bernt Balchen, , a winner of the Distinguished Flying Cross was a Norwegian native, and later U.S. citizen, known as a pioneer polar aviator, navigator, aircraft mechanical engineer and military leader. His service in the U.S...
of the United States Army Air Forces
United States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces was the military aviation arm of the United States of America during and immediately after World War II, and the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force....
(USAAF). While Inuit
Inuit
The Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...
hunters certainly visited Kangerlussuaq there appears never to have been an Inuit settlement there.
Following the fall of Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
to Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, US forces assumed security for Greenland, building several bases, the largest of which were Bluie West One in Narsarsuaq
Narsarsuaq
Narsarsuaq is a settlement in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland. It had 158 inhabitants in 2010. There is a thriving tourism industry in and around Narsarsuaq, whose attractions include a great diversity of wildlife, gemstones, tours to glaciers, and an airfield museum...
in southern Greenland and Bluie West Eight, at the Kangerlussuaq fjord.
The base briefly came under Danish control in 1950, but following mounting concerns about the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
threat, a new agreement saw the United States reopen Bluie West Eight up under the name of Sondrestrom Air Base
Sondrestrom Air Base
Sondrestrom Air Base is a former United States Air Force base in Greenland, located north of the Arctic Circle, from the northeast end of Kangerlussuaq Fjord , after which it was named, approximately west northwest of Ravneklippen, and west of Sisimiut.The base was turned over to the Greenland...
on 27 April 1951.
It served as one of the Distant Early Warning Line
Distant Early Warning Line
The Distant Early Warning Line, also known as the DEW Line or Early Warning Line, was a system of radar stations in the far northern Arctic region of Canada, with additional stations along the North Coast and Aleutian Islands of Alaska, in addition to the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Iceland...
bases and a supply station for similar early warning facilities. Following the fall of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
the usefulness of the base was greatly diminished and the last U.S. Air Force personnel left the base on 30 September 1992. The base subsequently came under Greenlandic Home Rule control and was given its first Greenlandic name, Kangerlussuaq. This site and Bluie West One in Narsarsuaq remain Greenland's best-equipped airports. Almost all of the permanent structures in the town were built during the American occupation of the site.
Population
The population of Kangerlussuaq dropped significantly after liquidation of the Sonderstrom Air Base. Since then it has doubled in size, remaining stable in the last decade, slightly increasing over time.Air
As the only civilian airport in Greenland large enough to support large long-range airplanes such as Boeing 747Boeing 747
The Boeing 747 is a wide-body commercial airliner and cargo transport, often referred to by its original nickname, Jumbo Jet, or Queen of the Skies. It is among the world's most recognizable aircraft, and was the first wide-body ever produced...
s, Kangerlussuaq Airport
Kangerlussuaq Airport
Kangerlussuaq Airport is an airport in Kangerlussuaq, a settlement in the Qeqqata municipality in central-western Greenland. Alongside Narsarsuaq Airport, it is one of only two civilian airports in Greenland large enough to handle large airliners, having more stable weather, being located further...
is Greenland's most important transport hub. Hotel Kangerlussuaq
Hotel Kangerlussuaq
Hotel Kangerlussuaq is a hotel in Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. Located at Kangerlussuaq Airport, this three-star hotel has 70 rooms and is a notable location for conferences....
operates at the airport.
Sea
Kangerlussuaq Fjord is navigable in its entire length. Cruise ships, such as NorwayNorway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
's Hurtigruten
Hurtigruten
Hurtigruten or Hurtigruta is a Norwegian passenger and freight line with daily sailings along Norway's western and northern coast. Sometimes referred to in English as Norwegian Coastal Express, Hurtigruten ships sail almost the entire length of the country, completing the roundtrip journey in 11...
and supply ships of Royal Greenland
Royal Greenland
Royal Greenland A/S is a fishing company in Greenland. The company operates in a number of towns and settlements in Greenland, with 20 fish processing plants and ship bases of local subsidiary units...
navigate the fjord, mooring at the Kangerlussuaq port, west of Kangerlussuaq Airport.
Road
A gravel road connects Kangerlussuaq with the ice sheet, initially serving as venue for car endurance experiments. Since then it is mainly used for tourist purposes.Construction of a road to Sisimiut
Sisimiut
Sisimiut is a town in central-western Greenland, located on the coast of Davis Strait, approximately north of Nuuk. It is the administrative center of the Qeqqata Municipality and the second-largest town in Greenland, with a population of 5,460 people as of 2010. The site of the present-day town...
(170 km) has been discussed for several years without resolution. The cost estimates have been between 250-500 MDKK, depending on road quality, but it has been considered expensive, and therefore the plans are delayed.
Climate
The climate in Kangerlussuaq is polar continentalPolar climate
Regions with a polar climate are characterized by a lack of warm summers . Regions with polar climate cover over 20% of the Earth. The sun shines 24 hours in the summer, and barely ever shines at all in the winter...
, with the area receiving very little rainfall.
Scientific Research
There is an ionosphericIonosphere
The ionosphere is a part of the upper atmosphere, comprising portions of the mesosphere, thermosphere and exosphere, distinguished because it is ionized by solar radiation. It plays an important part in atmospheric electricity and forms the inner edge of the magnetosphere...
and atmospheric
Earth's atmosphere
The atmosphere of Earth is a layer of gases surrounding the planet Earth that is retained by Earth's gravity. The atmosphere protects life on Earth by absorbing ultraviolet solar radiation, warming the surface through heat retention , and reducing temperature extremes between day and night...
research facility known as the Sondrestrom Upper Atmospheric Research Facility, situated at about 15 km (9.3 mi) west of Kangerlussuaq. It is commonly known around the town as Kellyville. It is operated by the SRI International
SRI International
SRI International , founded as Stanford Research Institute, is one of the world's largest contract research institutes. Based in Menlo Park, California, the trustees of Stanford University established it in 1946 as a center of innovation to support economic development in the region. It was later...
for the U.S. National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
and the Danish Meteorological Institute
Danish Meteorological Institute
The Danish Meteorological Institute is the official Danish meteorological institute, administrated by the Ministry of Transport and Energy. The institute makes weather forecasts and observations for Denmark, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands....
. This facility is host to more than 20 instruments, the majority of which provide unique and complementary information about the arctic
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
upper atmosphere. The centerpiece instrument of the facility is an L band
L band
L band refers to four different bands of the electromagnetic spectrum: 40 to 60 GHz , 1 to 2 GHz , 1565 nm to 1625 nm , and around 3.5 micrometres .-NATO L band:...
incoherent scatter
Incoherent scatter
Incoherent scattering is a type of scattering phenomenon in physics, which may involve various particles, such as neutrons or photons.One application is a ground-based technique for studying the Earth's ionosphere. A radar beam scattering off electrons in the ionospheric plasma creates an...
(IS) radar with a 32 m (105 ft) fully steerable antenna. It has been operational since the ionospheric radar
Radar
Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...
was transported from Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
to Kangerlussuaq in 1983 and it continues to be in high demand by the scientific communities.
Kangerlussuaq has also hosted the Greenland Space Science Symposium in May 2007. The selection of Greenland as a place for the symposium celebrated the rich history of Greenland in using scientific instruments to provide a window into the geospace system.