Nordvestfjord

Nordvestfjord, meaning 'Northwest Fjord', (Greenlandic: Kangertertivarmît Kangertivat) is a fjord in King Christian X Land, eastern Greenland.[1]

Nordvestfjord
View of the Daugaard-Jensen Glacier calving area at the head of the fjord.
Nordvestfjord is located in Greenland
Nordvestfjord
Nordvestfjord
Location in Greenland
LocationArctic
Coordinates71°40′N 27°17′W
Native nameKangertertivarmît Kangertivat (Greenlandic)
Ocean/sea sourcesScoresby Sound
Greenland Sea
Basin countriesGreenland
Max. length150 km (93 mi)
Max. width6 km (3.7 mi)
Average depth1,500 m (4,900 ft)

Administratively most of its length lies in the Northeast Greenland National Park area, at the border of Sermersooq municipality. This fjord is part of the Scoresby Sound system.[2] The distance from the head of Nordvestfjord across Hall Bredning to the mouth of Scoresby Sound is 313 km (194 mi), which makes this continuous stretch of water the longest fjord in the world.[3]

History

The Nordvestfjord fjord was named by Carl Ryder during his 1891–92 expedition because of its approximate northwestern direction.[3] Ryder, however, was prevented from exploring it because it was already September, new ice was forming, and a very strong wind was blowing from the interior of the fjord.[4]

Geography

This long and very deep fjord is the northernmost arm of the Scoresby Sound.[5] It is mostly surrounded by high mountains, whose sides rise steeply from its shore. Part of its northern flank marks the southern boundary of Nathorst Land and the Stauning Alps. To the northeast the fjord is bound by Scoresby Land, to the northwest by Charcot Land, and to the southwest by Hinksland, Th. Sørensen Land and Renland.[1]

The Nordvestfjord winds its way roughly in a NW/SE direction. Its largest branch is the Flyver Fjord, which runs in a roughly west–east direction and joins the southwestern shore about midway through the fjord.[1]

The fjord is fed by several glaciers. The Daugaard-Jensen Glacier is at the fjord's head flowing from the southwest and producing masses of icebergs.[6] The mouth is located close to the mouth of Ofjord, between the Bjorne Islands to the southwest and South Cape (Sydkap) to the northeast, beyond which lies Northeast Bay (Nordøstbugt).[1]

Glaciers, fjords and bays

From head to mouth:

  • Daugaard-Jensen Glacier
  • Fjord branch on the left bank
    • F. Graae Glacier (Nord Glacier)
    • "Charcot Glacier", a glacier flowing eastwards, to the southwest of F. Graae Glacier. The use of the name was discontinued because the name had been previously given to a glacier on Milne Land. Tthis glacier has currently no name.[3]
  • Hammerskjøld Glacier, Leicester Bay on the right bank
  • Flyver Fjord, in the area of Leeds Bay and Lancaster Bay on the right bank
  • Edvard Bay on the right bank
  • Unnamed glacier on the right bank
  • North Bay (Nordbugten) on the left bank
  • Unnamed glacier on the left bank
  • Snyder Bay on the left bank
    • Borgbjerg Glacier with Bacchus Glacier
  • Triton Glacier and Neptunus Glacier (Løberengletscher) on the left bank
  • Oxford Glacier on the left bank
Map of NE Greenland and Iceland.
Mountainside glacier tongue above the Nordvestfjord shore.

See also

References
  1. "Nordvestfjord". Mapcarta. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
  2. Prostar Sailing Directions 2005 Greenland and Iceland Enroute, p. 115
  3. Catalogue of place names in northern East Greenland. Geological Survey of Denmark.
  4. Spencer Apollonio, Lands That Hold One Spellbound: A Story of East Greenland, 2008, p. 76
  5. Nordvest Fjord, East Greenland
  6. Rignot E., Kanagaratnam P. (2006). "Changes in the velocity structure of the Greenland Ice Sheet". Science. 311 (5763): 986–990. doi:10.1126/science.1121381. PMID 16484490.


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