Brønlundhus, on some maps also Brønlundfjord, is a former research station and radio station located on the western shore of

Jørgen Brønlund Fjord Jørgen Brønlund Fjord or Brønlund Fjord is a fjord in southern Peary Land, northern Greenland. It was named after polar explorer Jørgen Brønlund by the Danmark expedition. Geography It runs roughly from NW to SE with its mouth located at ...

in southern

Peary Land Peary Land is a peninsula in northern Greenland, extending into the Arctic Ocean. It reaches from Victoria Fjord in the west to Independence Fjord in the south and southeast, and to the Arctic Ocean in the north, with Cape Morris Jesup, the nor ...

, in northern

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

. It is named after Greenlandic Arctic researcher

Jørgen Brønlund Jørgen Brønlund (14 December 1877 – November 1907) was a Kalaallit, Greenlandic List of polar explorers, polar explorer, educator, and Catechism, catechist. He participated in two Danish expeditions to Greenland in the early 20th century. ...

, or after the namesake

fjord In physical geography, a fjord (also spelled fiord in New Zealand English; ) is a long, narrow sea inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Antarctica, the Arctic, and surrounding landmasses of the n ...

on which it is located. It is close to the mouth of

where it opens into

Independence Fjord Independence Fjord or Independence Sound is a large fjord or sound in the eastern part of northern Greenland. It is about long and up to wide. Its mouth, opening to the Wandel Sea of the Arctic Ocean is located at . In the area around Indepen ...

History

Brønlundhus was built in 1947–48 by the Danish Peary Land Expeditions on initiative of

Eigil Knuth Count Eigil Knuth (8 August 1903 – 12 March 1996) was a Danish people, Danish explorer, archaeologist, sculptor and writer. He is referred to as the Nestor (mythology)#Advice, Nestor ("elder statesman") of Danish polar explorers. His archa ...

, through an air lift by

PBY Catalina The Consolidated Model 28, more commonly known as the PBY Catalina (U.S. Navy designation), is a flying boat and amphibious aircraft designed by Consolidated Aircraft in the 1930s and 1940s. In U.S. Army service, it was designated as the O ...

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tech ...

s from ''Zackenbergbasen'', a station built for that purpose close to a trapper's hut at the site of present Zackenberg research station area 1000 km farther south. Brønlundhus was the first station in Greenland with all equipment transported by airlift. The seaplanes could land in the fjord only during the ice-free period from mid-July to end of August. Brønlundhus was used as a base for the first expedition 1948–50 when Peary Land was explored by scientists on

dog sled A dog sled or dog sleigh is a sled pulled by one or more sled dogs used to travel over ice and through snow, a practice known as mushing. Numerous types of sleds are used, depending on their function. They can be used for Sled dog racing, dog sl ...

. Until the establishment of Alert in Canada in 1950, Brønlundhus was the northernmost station in the world, not counting historical depot huts of polar explorers including Peary's Cape Columbia Depot. From 1963 to 1972 the station was occasionally used during summers (April to August) as a base for smaller groups working in the area around the station. In 1972 a new station,

Kap Harald Moltke Cape Harald Moltke () is a headland in Peary Land, North Greenland. Administratively it is part of the Northeast Greenland National Park. History The cape was named by Lauge Koch after Danish painter, author and explorer Harald Moltke. The Dan ...

, was built at Cape Harald Moltke, some ten kilometers east of Brønlundhus, on the opposite side of Jørgen Brønlund Fjord, where an old raised seabed provides a natural runway, making air access possible. In summer, traffic between the two neighboring stations is by boat, depending on ice conditions. Since the death of Eigil Knuth in 1996, the stations have been administered by the Peary Land Foundation. Today, Brønlundhus can be characterised as a museum, with a collection of artefacts from polar explorations. In 2001, a Nanok team found the station in reasonably good condition, and performed minor repairs and exterior maintenance with paint and felt.North East Greenland Company
''Field report from the journey to Northeast Greenland in the summer 2001''
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References

Former populated places in Greenland Research stations in Greenland {{Greenland-geo-stub

History

See also

References