Kangerlussuaq

Kangerlussuaq
Country	Kingdom of Denmark
Province	Greenland

Kangerlussuaq (Template:Lang-da) is a settlement in west Greenland at the head of a fjord of the same name. Kangerlussuaq is the Greenlandic word for 'Big Fjord'. Kangerlussuaq was also known as Bluie West Eight and Sondrestrom Air Base during its time as an American military base.

History

Kangerlussuaq, originally known as Bluie West Eight was founded on October 7 1941, at the east end of Kangerlussuaq fjord, under the supervision of Colonel Bernt Balchen of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). While Inuit hunters certainly visited Kangerlussuaq there appears never to have been an Inuit settlement there.

Following the fall of Denmark to Germany in World War II, responsibility for the security of Greenland passed to the American military. Military leaders responded by building several bases in Greenland, the largest of which were Bluie West One in Narsarsuaq in southern Greenland and Bluie West Eight, at the Kangerlussuaq fjord.

The base returned briefly to Danish control in 1950, but following mounting concerns about the Cold War threat, a renewed agreement saw the United States reopen Bluie West Eight up under the name of Sondrestrom Air Base on April 27, 1951.

It served as one of the Distant Early Warning Line bases and a supply station for similar early warning facilities. Following the fall of the Soviet Union the usefulness of the base was greatly diminished and the last U.S. Air Force personnel left the base on September 30, 1992. The base subsequently came under Greenlandic Home Rule control and was given its first Greenlandic name, Kangerlussuaq.

This site and Bluie West One in Narsarsuaq remain Greenland's best-equipped airports. Almost all of the permanent structures in the town were built during the American occupation of the site.

Kangerlussuaq today

As the only civilian airport in Greenland large enough to support large long-range airplanes such as Boeing 747s, Kangerlussuaq Airport is Greenland's most important transport hub. Six flights weekly arrive from Copenhagen and connect to internal flights operated by Air Greenland to the capital Nuuk and Ilulissat amongst other locations. In 2007, Air Greenland operated the first non-stop flights to the United States between Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) in Maryland and Kangerlussuaq, although the route has since been canceled for financial reasons. Other flights are available in the summer to Keflavik, Iceland. The Kangerlussuaq area is also home to Greenland's most diverse land-based wildlife (such as muskoxen, caribou and gyrfalcons). The combination of these two factors has made Kangerlussauq a significant tourist centre for most of the year. The settlement's economy and population of 500 is now almost completely reliant on the airport and tourist industry. Access to several research camps on Greenland's ice cap, including the Danish field camp North GRIP and the American Summit Camp, is handled through Kangerlussuaq via the 109th Airlift Wing of the New York Air National Guard.

A signpost at Kangerlussuaq airport

In the spring of 2000 the Swedish construction group Skanska's Greenlandic subsidiary completed six months' work in establishing a Template:Km to mi road through the glacial valley from Kangerlussuaq to the edge of the permanent inland ice for the testing company Nausta, which runs a testing site in northern Sweden. It then laid a road stretching Template:Km to mi on the inland ice. Nausta built the facility to complement the winter testing done by Volkswagen in northern Sweden and Finland. It's always winter on the ice cap, but the site at Kangerlussuaq was primarily used in the summer half of the year, from April through October. The entire testing ground was used to test cars' performance in extreme cold and conditions of near-zero friction. The cars were flown from Europe to Kangerlussuaq, and then driven to the proving grounds after last-minute checks. This project was abandoned and from 2006 the road leading to the edge of the ice cap is maintained for tourist purposes only, though access to the last segment of the road is limited and requires a key to open the padlocked gate. Ice activity has demolished the inland ice segment of the road, and now the road ends at the edge of the inland ice sheet.

Scientific Research

Quicksands at the estuary of Quinnguata Kuussua, emptying into Kangerlussuaq fjord.

There is an ionospheric and atmospheric research facility known as the Sondrestrom Upper Atmospheric Research Facility, situated at about Template:Km to mi west of Kangerlussuaq. It is commonly known around the town as Kellyville. It is operated by the SRI International for the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Danish Meteorological Institute. This facility is host to more than 20 instruments, the majority of which provide unique and complementary information about the arctic upper atmosphere. The centerpiece instrument of the facility is an L band incoherent scatter (IS) radar with a Template:M to ft fully steerable antenna. It has been operational since the ionospheric radar was transported from Alaska to Kangerlussuaq in 1983 and it continues to be in high demand by the scientific communities.

Kangerlussuaq has also hosted the Greenland Space Science Symposium in May 2007. The selection of Greenland as a place for the symposium celebrated the rich history of Greenland in using scientific instruments to provide a window into the geospace system.

Rocket launches

Since 1971, rockets such as the Nike Apache, Petrel, Nike Tomahawk, Black Brant, Terrier Malemute, Taurus Orion, Terrier Malemute and Taurus Nike Tomahawk TNT have been launched from a site close to Kangerlussuaq (specifically, at 67°01′23″N 050°35′49″W) for examinations of the upper atmosphere.

Launch List

Date	Vehicle	Mission	Results
22 Aug 1971	Nike-Apache	(DK)	S (225 km)
24 Aug 1971	Nike-Apache	(DK)	S (225 km)
10 Dec 1972	Nike-Tomahawk	(DK)	S (300 km)
02 Jul 1974	Nike-Tomahawk	NASA 18.156IE/UE	S (235 km)
08 Jul 1974	Nike-Tomahawk	NASA 18.157IE/UE	S (235 km)
17 Dec 1974	Black Brant IV	(GER) MPI	S (595 km)
17 Dec 1974	Petrel	(UK) P86G	S (175 km)
17 Dec 1974	Petrel	(UK) P87G	S (170 km)
18 Dec 1974	Black Brant IV	(GER) MPI	S (550 km)
18 Dec 1974	Nike-Tomahawk	(DK)	E (20 km)
18 Dec 1974	Petrel	(UK) P166G	S (170 km)
18 Dec 1974	Petrel	(UK) P167G	S (170 km)
11 Jan 1975	Black Brant IV	(GER) MPI	S (610 km)
22 Aug 1976	Nike-Tomahawk	NASA 18.209IE CUSP II	S
27 Aug 1976	Nike-Tomahawk	NASA 18.210IE SEC II	S
23 Jan 1985	Terrier-Malemute	NASA 29.023UE	S
23 Jan 1985	Black Brant X	NASA 35.009UE	S
10 Feb 1985	Terrier-Malemute	NASA 29.015UE	S
10 Feb 1985	Black Brant X	NASA 35.012UE TOPAZ	S
05 Mar 1985	Taurus-Orion	NASA 33.044UE	S
15 Mar 1985	Black Brant IX	AFGL A21.426
20 Mar 1985	Taurus-Tomahawk	NASA 34.006UE	S
20 Mar 1985	Nike-Tomahawk	NASA 18.219UE	S
26 Feb 1987	Terrier-Malemute	NASA 29.025UE	S
26 Feb 1987	Black Brant IX	AFGL A21.628
05 Mar 1987	Terrier-Malemute	NASA 29.026UE	S
05 Mar 1987	Taurus-Nike-Tomahawk	NASA 38.012UE	S
21 Mar 1987	Taurus-Tomahawk	NASA 34.014UE	S
21 Mar 1987	Nike-Tomahawk	NASA 18.220UE	S
21 Mar 1987	Black Brant VIII?IX	AFGL A19.426
31 Mar 1987	Black Brant IX	NASA 36.014UE COPE II	S (436 km)
31 Mar 1987	Taurus-Nike-Tomahawk	NASA 38.010UE COPE II	S (467 km)
31 Mar 1987	Taurus-Nike-Tomahawk	NASA 38.011UE COPE II	S (441 km)

References

• Sonde Stromfjord Launch Log

External links

• Template:Wikitravel