Wolstenholme Fjord ( kl, Uummannap Kangerlua) is 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 ...

Avannaata Avannaata (, da, Det Nordlige, lit=The Northern) is a municipality of Greenland created on 1 January 2018 from the bulk of the former Qaasuitsup municipality. It encompasses an area of 522,700 km2 and has 10,726 inhabitants. Geography In ...

municipality, Northwest

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 is located to the north of the

Thule Air Base Thule Air Base (pronounced or , kl, Qaanaaq Mitarfik, da, Thule Lufthavn), or Thule Air Base/Pituffik Airport , is the United States Space Force's northernmost base, and the northernmost installation of the U.S. Armed Forces, located north o ...

and adjacent to the abandoned

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...

settlement of

Narsaarsuk Narsaarsuk (old spelling: ''Narssârssuk'') is an abandoned settlement on the edge of Bylot Sound in northern Greenland near Thule Air Base. The site of the former settlement is contaminated with plutonium after the 1968 Thule Air Base B-52 crash ...

. The area was contaminated in 1968 with

plutonium Plutonium is a radioactive chemical element with the symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is an actinide metal of silvery-gray appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, and forms a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibi ...

and other radioactive elements following a B-52 bomber crash.

Geography

Wolstenholme Fjord is located in the stretch of coast between Cape York and

Cape Alexander Cape Alexander () is a cape which forms the south end of Churchill Peninsula and the east side of the entrance to Cabinet Inlet, on the east coast of Graham Land. It was charted by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (FIDS) and photographe ...

. Together with the

Inglefield Gulf Inglefield Gulf or Inglefield Fjord ( da, Inglefield Bredning; kl, Kangerlussuaq) is a fjord in northwestern Greenland. To the west, the fjord opens into the Baffin Bay. Administratively it belongs to the Avannaata municipality. Inglefield Gulf ...

it is one of the two main indentations in the area.''Prostar Sailing Directions 2005 Greenland and Iceland Enroute,'' p. 77 Saunders Island,

Wolstenholme Island Wolstenholme Island ( kl, Qeqertarssuaq) is an island in Baffin Bay, in Avannaata municipality, off northwestern Greenland. The island lies west of the Bylot Sound off Cape Atholl in the southern shore of the mouth of Wolstenholme Fjord, south o ...

and the

Bylot Sound The Bylot Sound is a sound in the North Star Bay, Avannaata municipality, northwest Greenland. Geography This channel separates Saunders Island and Wolstenholme Island from the Greenland mainland. Its minimum width is , between Wolstenholme Isl ...

lie at the mouth of the Fjord in

North Star Bay North Star Bay ( da, North Star Bugt), also known as Thule Harbor and Wolstenholme Bay, is a bay off the mouth of Wolstenholme Fjord, Greenland. The bay is named after HMS ''North Star''. Thule Air Base is located at the edge of the bay. There ...

. Further to the west on the northern shore lies the

Granville Fjord Granville Fjord ( kl, Iterlassuaq) is a fjord in Avannaata municipality, Northwest Greenland. Geography Granville Fjord is located in Steensby Land, in the stretch of coast between Cape York (Greenland), Cape York and Cape Alexander, Greenland, Ca ...

. The fjord's waters are fed by four large glaciers: the

Salisbury Glacier The Salisbury Glacier ( kl, Pinguarsuit Sermiat) is a glacier in Greenland. Geography This glacier is located in the far northwest of Greenland, to the north of the Thule Air Base. It is one of four large glaciers which feeds the Wolstenholme Fj ...

, the Chamberlin Glacier, the

Knud Rasmussen Glacier The Knud Rasmussen Glacier is located in the far northwest of Greenland, to the north of the Thule Air Base. It is one of four large glaciers which feeds the Wolstenholme Fjord (sometimes referred to as "the world's largest ice machine"). The other ...

, and the

Harald Moltke Glacier The Harald Moltke Glacier ( kl, Sermersuak) is a glacier in Greenland. Geography The Harald Moltke Glacier is located in the far northwest of Greenland, to the north of the Thule Air Base. It is one of four large glaciers which feeds the Wolstenh ...

References

Fjords of Greenland {{Greenland-fjord-stub

Geography

See also

Further reading

References