Nuup Kangerlua

Nuup Kangerlua
Godthåbsfjord
Gilbert Sound
Nuup Kangerlua
Location in Greenland
Location Arctic
Coordinates 64°30′N 51°23′W / 64.500°N 51.383°W / 64.500; -51.383Coordinates: 64°30′N 51°23′W / 64.500°N 51.383°W / 64.500; -51.383
Ocean/sea sources Labrador Sea
Basin countries Greenland
Max. length 160 km (99 mi)
Max. width 7 km (4.3 mi)

Nuup Kangerlua[1] is a 160 km (99.4 mi) long fjord[2] in the Sermersooq municipality in southwestern Greenland. It was formerly known by its colonial name as Godthaab Fjord (Danish: Godthåbsfjorden), Gilbert Sound[3] and Baal's River.[4]

Located by the island's capital, Nuuk, it is the longest fjord on the Labrador Sea coast of Greenland, and one of the longest in the inhabited part of the country.[2]

Geography

The fjord head is located deep inland, with the fjord beginning as an icefjord at 64°19′50″N 49°36′10″W / 64.33056°N 49.60278°W / 64.33056; -49.60278, with two glaciers draining the Greenland ice sheet (Greenlandic: Sermersuaq) flowing into the fjord.

Initially, the fjord flows to the northwest, to then turn southwest at 64°43′N 50°37′W / 64.717°N 50.617°W / 64.717; -50.617, splitting into three arms in its lower run, with three large, mountainous islands in between the arms: Sermitsiaq Island with the Sermitsiaq mountain visible from most of Nuuk, Qeqertarsuaq Island, and Qoornuup Qeqertarsua Island.[5]

The fjord widens into a bay dotted with skerries near its mouth, opening into Labrador Sea at approximately 64°03′N 51°58′W / 64.050°N 51.967°W / 64.050; -51.967, near the former Kangeq settlement.

Settlement

Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, is located near the mouth of the fjord, on a mountainous peninsula bounding the fjord from the southeast. Kapisillit is located 75 km (47 mi) northeast of Nuuk, near the head of Kapisillit Kangerluaq,[5] one of the tributary fjords of Nuup Kangerlua.

Nuup Kangerlua
Nuup Kangerlua seen from the outskirts of the Nuussuaq district of Nuuk.

See also

References

  1. ↑ The pre-1973 spelling was Nûp Kangerdlua
  2. 1 2 "TIL OPPLYSNING". Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Archived from the original on 15 June 2011. Retrieved 12 July 2010.
  3. ↑ Markham, Clements R. The Voyages of William Baffin. Hakluyt Society.
  4. ↑ Nicoll, James. An Historical and Descriptive Account of Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. Oliver & Boyd, 1840.
  5. 1 2 O'Carroll, Etain (2005). Greenland and the Arctic. Lonely Planet. p. 154. ISBN 1-74059-095-3.
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