Blogs from Greenland, North America - page 5

Just a quick blurb! We left Akureyri, Iceland and headed back to Greenland by ship. Greenland is ice and Iceland is green? Greenland is the world’s largest island and is about 80% covered in ice (so it is actually white by default) but nevertheless it is still called Greenland. Quite an imaginative name! However, imagination was lacking when they named the national park in the northeast of Greenland… The Northeast Greenland National park which, unsurprisingly, is in the northeast of Greenland, is the world’s largest national park. It’s almost a million square kilometres, or about the size of Ontario or 5 United Kingdoms. Most of the park is covered by the giant ice-sheet that smothers the land, but the fjord systems along the shore, and the mighty coastal mountain ranges are free of ice and are ... read more

I'll start off my blog with this story about Greenland. The first stop was Narsarsuaq, the gateway to Southern Greenland. This town of roughly 200 people serves as one of two main international gateways to Greenland, and has flights to Denmark in full season. However, the easiest (yet not cheapest) way to reach Greenland was to arrive from Iceland, seeing as how one of us was flying in from Europe, and one from North America. Luckily, Air Iceland serves Narsarsuaq from Reykjavik. You might ask, what's there to do in Narsarsuaq. The answer to that is "not much"... However, it's also the wrong question to ask. The point is that you shouldn't go to Greenland for the cities (or, rather, towns). There are plenty of hiking trails around Narsarsuaq: the most famous of which are the ... read more

Vores første vinter i Grønland er så småt ved at gå på hæld. Det er næsten ikke til at forstå, at vi i skrivende stund runder 1 år i Grønland. På den ene side er tiden fløjet afsted og på den anden side har vi oplevet så mange nye ting, at man næsten ikke kan tro, at det muligt på blot 1 år. Efter et travlt efterår fik vi vores båd på land gjort den vinterklar. Og der gik kun en uges tid inden den første voldsomme snestorm kom på besøg. Dagene blev hurtigt kortere - meget kortere. Faktisk så korte, at vi ikke så solen fra vores lejlighed i en hel måned! Til gengæld bliver det "rigtig" vinter og ingen grå, mørke og regnfyldte dage, som oftest kendetegner vinteren i Danmark. De sneklædte fjeldsider udgør ... read more

There was a time when I would never have dreamed of embarking on a journey to Greenland, but like everyone else, travellers will inevitably change as the years continue to roll by. Now it seems the most natural thing in the world, however it's certainly placed a strain on my finances. Flying to Greenland is burning a hole in my pocket, seeming to flush away my wallet and all it's contents. I mean, let's be honest, Greenland is a very expensive travel destination, with prohibitive airfares from Iceland and internally. Also the accommodation options range from extremely pricey to even pricier! This is an obvious impediment to many travellers visiting the Arctic region, but I'm pleased to have taken the plunge. Finally I have the opportunity to explore this spectacular country. After all, it's not every ... read more

Et gode ved at arbejde i Grønland er muligheden for at opleve dele af landet, som man ellers aldrig ville komme til at besøge. I 23 dage af juni måned var jeg således af sted på min første ”Grønlands-ekspedition”, da jeg sammen med 3 øvrige arbejdskollegaer skulle foretage de indledende forundersøgelser til udvidelsen af vandkraftværket ved Qorlortorsuaq i Sydgrønland. Qorlortorsuaq er beliggende ca. 25 km. syd for Narsarsuaq og ca. 30 km sydøst for Qaqortoq (Julianehåb). For mit vedkommende omfattede forundersøgelserne landmåling til projektering af nye bygningsværker (dæmninger og tunneler), således at der kan ledes mere vand ned til reservoir-søen, hvorfra vandkraftværket genererer strøm. Derudover var jeg også med til at foretage seismiske undersøgelser til bestemmelse af fjeldets placering under jordoverfladen. Seismiske undersøgelser er ganske underholdende, idet man placerer en... read more