The Gronau Nunataks ( da, Gronau Nunatakker) is a

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...

King Christian IX Land King Christian IX Land ( da, Kong Christian IX Land) is a coastal area of Southeastern Greenland in Sermersooq Municipality fronting the Denmark Strait and extending through the Arctic Circle from 65°N to 70°N. History This area was named i ...

, eastern

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 this range is part of the

Sermersooq Sermersooq (, da, sted med meget is, lit=place of much ice) is a municipality in Greenland, formed on 1 January 2009 from five earlier, smaller municipalities. Its administrative seat is the city of Nuuk (formerly called Godthåb), the capital ...

Municipality.

History

This group of nunataks at the edge of the vast Greenland Ice Sheet was first reported by German aviation pioneer

Wolfgang von Gronau Hans Wolfgang von Gronau (25 February 1893 - 17 March 1977) was a German aviation pioneer. Biography Wolfgang von Gronau was born in Berlin in a family hailing from the ancient dynasty of the House of Berg. He was the son of artillery General Han ...

during his 1930 transatlantic flight on a Dornier Wal. The existence of the range was later confirmed by

Lauge Koch Lauge Koch (5 July 1892 – 5 June 1964) was a Danish geologist and Arctic explorer. Biography Lauge Koch was born in 1892 to Karl and Elisabeth Koch. His development as a scientist was greatly influenced by his father's second cousin Johan P ...

during flights in 1933 that were part of the 1931–34 Three-year Expedition to East Greenland ''(Treårsekspeditionen)''. Following the subsequent survey and mapping of the mountains they were named after Wolfgang von Gronau.

Geography

The Gronau Nunataks is a long cluster of

nunatak A nunatak (from Inuit ''nunataq'') is the summit or ridge of a mountain that protrudes from an ice field or glacier that otherwise covers most of the mountain or ridge. They are also called glacial islands. Examples are natural pyramidal peaks. ...

s. It is located north of the

Watkins Range The Watkins Range ( da, Watkins Bjerge) is Greenland's highest mountain range. It is located in King Christian IX Land, Sermersooq municipality. The range was named after British Arctic explorer Gino Watkins. History Made up entirely of nunat ...

, beyond the large

Christian IV Glacier Christian IV Glacier ( da, Christian IV Gletscher or ''Kong Christian den IV's Gletscher'') is a large glacier on the east coast of the Greenland ice sheet. It is named after King Christian IV of Denmark (1577 – 1648). Administratively this gla ...

and to the northeast of the Lindbergh Range. The Greenland Ice Sheet lies to the north and the Wager Nunataks further to the east. The

Gronau Glacier Gronau may refer to: Places * Gronau, North Rhine-Westphalia, a city in district Borken, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany **Gronau (Westf) railway station *Gronau, Lower Saxony, a city on the river Leine in district Hildesheim, Lower Saxony, Germany ...

is located in the western part of the mountains. The area of the range is remote and uninhabited.

Google Earth Google Earth is a computer program that renders a 3D computer graphics, 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposition, superimposing satellite images, aerial photography, and geog ...

The Dødemandstoppene (Danish for "Mountains of the Dead", lit. "Peaks of the Dead Men") is a geographic division or part of the Gronau Nunataks located on the eastern side of the Grønlands Styrelse Glacier. The name originated in 1934 at the time of the

British Trans-Greenland Expedition Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Martin Alexander Lindsay, 1st Baronet, (22 August 1905 – 5 May 1981) was a British Army officer, polar explorer, politician and author. He first came to national attention in the 1930s, as a Polar explorer in Greenlan ...

by Sir Martin Lindsay in which the dark pyramid or tomb-like mountains were deemed sinister when first seen. Operational Navigation Chart C-13, 3rd edition

Operational Navigation Chart C-13, 3rd edition

Peaks

The highest point of the Gronau Nunataks is a 2,810 m mountain. The area has been explored in recent decades by alpinists and some of the peaks have been named, but data are lacking regarding the exact location of certain peaks.Engel, H. 2007: Gronau Nunatakker, first ascents.

American Alpine Journal The ''American Alpine Journal'' is an annual magazine published by the American Alpine Club. Its mission is "to document and communicate mountain exploration." The headquarters is in Golden, Colorado. Subtitled as a compilation of "The World's M ...

2007, 201–202Burch, S. 2003: Gronau Nunatakker range, first ascents. American Alpine Journal 2003, 282–283.
/ref>
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/ref> Some of the summits named recently are the following: * HP (2,810 m); highest peak at * Pilotsbjerg (2,726 m) at * Byrnesfjeld (2,628 m) at * Mt. Currahee (2,612 m) at * Abbottsbjerg (2,609 m) at * Helenasbjerg (2,603 m) at * Elizabethsbjerg (2,602 m) at * Mt. Brasenose (2,562 m) at * Mt. Ward (2,550 m) at * Hannahsbjerg (2,520 m) at * Qureshisbjerg (2,517 m) at * Schwerdtfegersbjerg (2,479 m) at * Charlottesbjerg (2,444 m) at * Sarah’s Spur (1,975 m) at

Climate

Being so close to the Greenland Ice Sheet,

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 ...

prevails in the Gronau Nunataks. The average annual temperature in the area of the range is -18 °C. The warmest month is July when the average temperature reaches -4 °C and the coldest is February when the temperature sinks to -25 °C.

References

{{Reflist, 2

External links