The Davy Sound ( da, Davy Sund) is a
sound
In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid.
In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...
in
King Christian X Land
King Christian X Land ( da, Kong Christian X Land) is an area of northeastern Greenland.
History
This area was named after King Christian X of Denmark and Iceland (1870 – 1947), who rose to the throne in 1912. At the time of the Three-year ...
, Northeast
Greenland
Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...
. Administratively it is part of the
Northeast Greenland National Park
Northeast Greenland National Park ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaanni nuna eqqissisimatitaq, da, Grønlands Nationalpark) is the world's largest national park and the 10th List of largest protected areas in the world, largest protected area (the only large ...
zone.
History
The sound was named and put on the map by
William Scoresby
William Scoresby (5 October 178921 March 1857) was an English whaler, Arctic explorer, scientist and clergyman.
Early years
Scoresby was born in the village of Cropton near Pickering south-west of Whitby in Yorkshire. His father, William ...
(1789 – 1857) in 1822 in honour of Cornish chemist and inventor Sir
Humphry Davy
Sir Humphry Davy, 1st Baronet, (17 December 177829 May 1829) was a British chemist and inventor who invented the Davy lamp and a very early form of arc lamp. He is also remembered for isolating, by using electricity, several elements for t ...
(1778 – 1829), president of the
Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
from 1820 to 1827.
[Place names, NE Greenland](_blank)
/ref>
In 1899, during the Swedish Greenland Expedition on which Swedish Arctic explorer Alfred Gabriel Nathorst
Alfred Gabriel Nathorst (7 November 1850 – 20 January 1921) was a Swedish Arctic explorer, geologist, and palaeobotanist.
Life
He was born in Väderbrunn in Sweden.
Nathorst's interest in geology was awoken by Charles Lyell’s ‘’Pr ...
found and first mapped King Oscar Fjord, he made southwards for the Davy Sound after having entered from Antarctic Sound
The Antarctic Sound is a body of water about long and from wide, separating the Joinville Island group from the northeast end of the Antarctic Peninsula. The sound was named by the Swedish Antarctic Expedition under Otto Nordenskjöld for the ...
. But Davy sound was blocked by ice and Nathorst had to travel back north.
Nathorst proposed 72° 10′ N as the northern limit of Davy Sound, which is roughly the present day geographic limit.
Geography
Davy Sound is a broad channel with a fjord
In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Ice ...
structure that runs roughly from the Greenland Sea in the southeast to the northwest for roughly , becoming King Oscar Fjord further to the north. Its minimum width is .
The Davy Sound separates the northeastern shore of Jameson Land
Jameson Land is a peninsula in eastern Greenland.
Geography
Jameson Land is bounded to the southwest by Scoresby Sound (the world's largest fjord), to the northwest by the Stauning Alps, to the north by Scoresby Land, to the northeast by the Fle ...
—part of the Greenland mainland— from the southwestern shore of Traill Island
Traill Island ( da, Traill Ø) is a large island in eastern Greenland. It is named after zoologist Thomas Stewart Traill. The island is a part of the Northeast Greenland National Park.
Geography
Traill Island is a coastal island located in the ...
. Cape Simpson rises on the northeastern side of the mouth of the sound and Cape Biot
Cape Biot ( da, Kap Biot) is a headland in the Greenland Sea, Northeast Greenland, Sermersooq municipality.
History
This headland was named "Cape Biot" by William Scoresby (1789 – 1857) in 1822 to honour physicist, astronomer and mathematician ...
on the southwestern.Antarctic Haven
Antarctic Haven ( da, Antarctic Havn) is a bay in King Christian X Land, Northeastern Greenland.
Administratively it lies in the Northeast Greenland National Park area.
History
This natural harbour was named ''"Antarctics Hamn"'' by Swedish A ...
is located on the southwestern shore, about from Cape Biot and Mesters Vig a little further up the same shore.[''Prostar Sailing Directions 2005 Greenland and Iceland Enroute,'' p. 119]
Even in the summertime the channel is usually encumbered by ice and tidal currents are strong and dangerous for navigation.[William Scoresby, ''Journal of a Voyage to the Northern Whale-Fishery. Including Researches and Discoveries on the Eastern Coast of West Greenland,'' p. 268]
See also
*List of fjords of Greenland
This is a list of the most important fjords of Greenland:In Northern Greenland, a large area made up entirely of fjords; therefore Peary Land above not a fjord but a fjord area.In Northeastern Greenland, a large area made up entirely of fjo ...
References
{{reflist, 2
External links
Explanatory notes to the Geological map of GreenlandAntarctic Havn
Sounds of North America
Straits of Greenland
Fjords of Greenland