Nuup Kangerlua

Nuup Kangerlua
Godthåbsfjord
Gilbert Sound
Location
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
Max. width 7 km

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

Located by the island's capital, 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.

Satellite view of Nuup Kangerlua
Aerial view of the fjord and Sermitsiaq mountain.

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

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nuup Kangerlua.
  1. ↑ The pre-1973 spelling was Nûp Kangerdlua
  2. 1 2 "TIL OPPLYSNING". Norwegian University of Science and Technology. 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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