The Prince Christian Sound (Greenlandic: Ikerasassuaq; Danish:Prins Christians Sund) is a waterway in Southern

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 ...

. It separates the mainland from

Sammisoq Sammisoq (old spelling ''Sangmissoq'', da, Christian IV Ø; English traditional:''Christian IV Island'') is an island in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland, located northeast of Uummannarsuaq cape. It is the largest island of the Cap ...

(Christian IV Island) and other islands of the

Cape Farewell Archipelago Cape Farewell Archipelago (also Nunap Isua Archipelago) is an island group located at the southern end of Greenland in Kujalleq municipality. The archipelago takes its name from Cape Farewell, a headland of Egger Island (also known as Itilleq). G ...

near the southernmost tip of Greenland. The name was given in honour of the prince, later king

Christian VIII of Denmark Christian VIII (18 September 1786 – 20 January 1848) was King of Denmark from 1839 to 1848 and, as Christian Frederick, King of Norway in 1814. Christian Frederick was the eldest son of Hereditary Prince Frederick, a younger son of King Frederic ...

Geography

The Prince Christian Sound connects the

Labrador Sea The Labrador Sea (French: ''mer du Labrador'', Danish: ''Labradorhavet'') is an arm of the North Atlantic Ocean between the Labrador Peninsula and Greenland. The sea is flanked by continental shelf, continental shelves to the southwest, northwest, ...

with the

Irminger Sea The Irminger Sea is a marginal sea of the North Atlantic Ocean. It is bordered to the west by southern Greenland, to the north by Iceland and the Denmark Strait, to the east by the Reykjanes Ridge (a northern part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge), an ...

. It is around 100 km (60 miles) long and it is narrow, sometimes only wide. There is only one settlement along this sound, Aappilattoq. The long fjord system is mostly surrounded by steep mountains in general reaching over , one of them high Many glaciers go straight into its waters where they calve icebergs. There are often strong tidal currents limiting the formation of ice. It has many offshoots, such as

Kangerluk Kangerluk (old spelling: ''Kangerdluk''), also called Diskofjord, is a settlement in Qeqertalik municipality, in western Greenland, located on the southwestern shore of Disko Island Disko Island ( kl, Qeqertarsuaq, da, Diskoøen) is a large i ...

to the north midway through the fjord, Ikeq Fjord in the south, and in the west Ilua Fjord, Ikerasaq Fjord (Akuliarutsip Imaa), Utoqqarmiut Fjord (Pamialluup Kujatinngua) and the

Torsukattak Fjord Torsukattak is a fjord in far southern Greenland. Administratively it is part of the Kujalleq municipality. Geography Torsukattak Fjord is located to the southwest of Prince Christian Sound near the Cape Farewell Archipelago. The fjord is or ...

Weather station

At the entrance to the East to the Strait () there is a weather station founded by the US during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

under the name

Bluie East One The Prince Christian Sound (Greenlandic: Ikerasassuaq; Danish:Prins Christians Sund) is a waterway in Southern Greenland. It separates the mainland from Sammisoq (Christian IV Island) and other islands of the Cape Farewell Archipelago near the so ...

. The task of the weather station was to ensure that the shipping industry had reliable data on the weather at

Cape Farewell, Greenland Cape Farewell ( kl, Nunap Isua; da, Kap Farvel) is a headland on the southern shore of Egger Island, Nunap Isua Archipelago, Greenland. As the southernmost point of the country, it is one of the important landmarks of Greenland. Geography Loc ...

. On January 7, 1959, when the ship

MS Hans Hedtoft MS ''Hans Hedtoft'' was a Danish cargo passenger liner that struck an iceberg and sank on 30 January 1959 on her maiden voyage off the coast of Western Greenland. The only piece of the wreckage ever found was a lifebelt. , she remains the las ...

hit an

iceberg An iceberg is a piece of freshwater ice more than 15 m long that has broken off a glacier or an ice shelf and is floating freely in open (salt) water. Smaller chunks of floating glacially-derived ice are called "growlers" or "bergy bits". The ...

Cape Farvel Cape Farewell ( kl, Nunap Isua; da, Kap Farvel) is a headland on the southern shore of Egger Island, Nunap Isua Archipelago, Greenland. As the southernmost point of the country, it is one of the important landmarks of Greenland. Geography Loc ...

, the radio telegraphist at the weather station at Prince Christian Sound was the first to catch the ship's distress signal. The weather station is today run by the International Civil Aviation Organization

ICAO The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international a ...

together with

Tele Greenland Tusass A/S, doing business as Tusass (formerly Greenland Technical Organization and Tele-Post), is a Greenlandic postal and telecommunications company dating back to 1879. Tusass is the largest telecommunications company in Greenland. The compan ...

. A long wooden stairway leads from the harbour up to the station with community building,

power plant A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many pow ...

, residential barracks and radio aerial plants.

Tourism

The scenery of Prince Christian Sound attracts summer cruise ships to the area, with some vessels as large as the 86,700 ton Eurodam, or the 137,000 ton

Voyager of the Seas Voyager may refer to: Computing and communications * LG Voyager, a mobile phone model manufactured by LG Electronics * NCR Voyager, a computer platform produced by NCR Corporation * Voyager (computer worm), a computer worm affecting Oracle da ...

Ships must go slowly due to the icebergs.

Climate

Prince Christian Sound has a maritime

polar climate The polar climate regions are characterized by a lack of warm summers but with varying winters. Every month in a polar climate has an average temperature of less than . Regions with polar climate cover more than 20% of the Earth's area. Most of ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

''ET'') making borderline with

subpolar oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ( ...

(''Cfc'') due low annual temperature swings for its latitude and relatively high temperature in center months. Summer temperatures are way below the

tree line The tree line is the edge of the habitat at which trees are capable of growing. It is found at high elevations and high latitudes. Beyond the tree line, trees cannot tolerate the environmental conditions (usually cold temperatures, extreme snowp ...

requirements, whereas the long winters are comparatively mild for its high latitude. The nearby ice sheet produces cold air which keeps summer temperatures down.

References

External links