Location Arctic Basin countries Greenland | Ocean/sea sources North Atlantic Ocean Ocean/sea source Atlantic Ocean | |
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Bernstorff Fjord (Danish: Bernstorff Isfjord; Greenlandic: Kangertittivaq) is a fjord in King Frederick VI Coast, eastern Greenland.
Contents
Administratively it is part of the Sermersooq municipality. The fjord was named after Danish statesman Andreas Peter Bernstorff. This fjord is almost always blocked by heavy ice.
History
One of the coastal islands, Igdluluarssuk (Sattiaatteq) at the entrance of the fjord on its southern side, had had the northernmost Inuit settlement of the southern group on the east coast in the recent past.
Arctic explorer Wilhelm August Graah of the Danish Navy explored this area in 1828–30, during an expedition in search of the legendary Eastern Norse Settlement.
Geography
To the east the Bernstorff Fjord opens into the North Atlantic Ocean. It separates the Odinland Peninsula to the north, from the Thorland Peninsula to the south of the fjord. A single island, Ensomheden, is located within the fjord about 33 kilometres (21 miles) from its mouth. Cape Mosting is the headland on the northern side.
The Storebjorn, Bernstorff, Fimbul and Sleipner glaciers at the head of this fjord produce massive amounts of ice. The constant glacier activity produces a powerful current streaming out of the fjord which, together with the numerous ice floes, makes navigation hazardous in the area between its mouth and Umivik Bay.