Bessel Fjord 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 ...
in northeastern
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 belongs to the
NE Greenland National Park area.
History
The area around the mouth of this fjord was referred to as "Bessel Bay" at the time of the 1869–70
Second German North Polar Expedition led by
Carl Koldewey. It was named after German astronomer and director of the
Königsberg
Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was named ...
university observatory
Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel
Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel (; 22 July 1784 – 17 March 1846) was a German astronomer, mathematician, physicist, and geodesist. He was the first astronomer who determined reliable values for the distance from the sun to another star by the method ...
(1784–1846). Later, the 1906–08
Denmark expedition
The Denmark expedition ( da, Danmark-ekspeditionen), also known as the Denmark Expedition to Greenland's Northeast Coast, and as the Danmark Expedition after the ship, was an expedition to the northeast of Greenland in 1906–1908.
Despite being ...
applied the name to the fjord itself.
This fjord marked the northern border of
Erik the Red's Land
Erik the Red's Land ( no, Eirik Raudes Land) was the name given by Norwegians to an area on the coast of eastern Greenland occupied by Norway in the early 1930s. It was named after Erik the Red, the founder of the first Norse or Viking settlemen ...
in 1932–1933.
[Spencer Apollonio, ''Lands That Hold One Spellbound: A Story of East Greenland,'' 2008]
Geography
Bessel Fjord stretches north of
Norlund Land from west to east for about 53 km.
Troms Island lies in its mouth in the
Greenland Sea
The Greenland Sea is a body of water that borders Greenland to the west, the Svalbard archipelago to the east, Fram Strait and the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Norwegian Sea and Iceland to the south. The Greenland Sea is often defined as p ...
.
This
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 ...
marks the border between
King Frederick VIII Land
King Frederick VIII Land ( da, Kong Frederik VIII Land) is a major geographic division of northeastern Greenland. It extends above the Arctic Circle from 76°N to 81°N in a N/S direction along the coast of the Greenland Sea.
History
This vast ...
to the north and
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 ...
to the south.
It is located in
Erik the Red's Land
Erik the Red's Land ( no, Eirik Raudes Land) was the name given by Norwegians to an area on the coast of eastern Greenland occupied by Norway in the early 1930s. It was named after Erik the Red, the founder of the first Norse or Viking settlemen ...
, in the Greenland Caledonites.
lies north of the fjord and
Queen Margrethe II Land
Queen Margrethe II Land ( da, Dronning Margrethe II Land) is a peninsula in the northern limit of King Christian X Land, northeastern Greenland. Administratively it belongs to the NE Greenland National Park area. History
The peninsula was named a ...
''(Dronning Margrethe II Land)'' to the south.
[''Catalogue of place names in northern East Greenland,'' Geological Survey of Denmark (GEUS)]
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 fjor ...
References
Fjords of Greenland
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