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37-497: Qaanaaq ( Greenlandic pronunciation: [qaːnɑːq] ), formerly known as Thule or New Thule , is the main town in the northern part of the Avannaata municipality in northwestern Greenland . The town has a population of 646 as of 2020. The population was forcibly relocated from its former, traditional home, which was expropriated for the construction of a United States Air Force base in 1953. The inhabitants of Qaanaaq speak

74-483: A capacity of 34 children while the day nursery can hold up to 12. Air Greenland operates fixed-wing aircraft services between Qaanaaq Airport and Upernavik Airport , with further connections to Ilulissat Airport and Qaarsut Airport . Settlement flights operate to Siorapaluk , sporadically to Moriusaq , and to Savissivik via Pituffik Space Base. There are a few unpaved dirt roads in Qaanaaq. Only one road leaves

111-606: A cold tundra climate (Köppen climate classification ET ), and hence it has long, cold winters. July and August are the warmest months, and peak high temperatures rarely exceeding 20 °C (68 °F) occur in June and July. Avannaata In the south, Avannaata is flanked by the Qeqertalik municipality. In the southeast, it is bordered by the Sermersooq municipality, however this border runs north–south ( 45° West meridian ) through

148-568: A dentist who visits the town twice a year. Qaanaaq Hospital falls under the Avannaa health region. A small local fire brigade is assisted by firefighters from the Pituffik Space Base . The town is part of the region of Avannaata , which is represented by a 17-member council and mayor. Qaanaaq is home to a remote CTBTO infrasound listening station called IS-18, which uses an array of barometric sensors to detect possible nuclear tests around

185-529: A new lease on life. It assisted especially in the building of the four radar stations spanning Greenland ( DYE-1 through 4 ). In the mid-1950s, Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) began using the base as a refueling station on their then-new " Polar route " between Scandinavia and the United States. In 1956, SAS was operating three round trip flights a week with Douglas DC-6B propliners on a routing of Copenhagen – Sondrestrom – Winnipeg – Los Angeles . In

222-534: A support station by a protected harbor at the foot of iconic Mount Dundas in 1892. It served as a base camp for his expeditions and attracted a permanent population. In 1910 explorers Knud Rasmussen and Peter Freuchen established a missionary and trading post there. They called the site "Thule" after classical ultima Thule ; the Inuit called it Umanaq ("heart-shaped"), and the site is commonly called "Dundas" today. The United States abandoned its territorial claims in

259-452: A way deemed "unhealthy", the Danish government forcibly relocated "Old Thule" with about 130 inhabitants to a newly constructed, modern village 60 miles (97 km) north, known as Qaanaaq, or "New Thule". In a Danish Supreme Court judgment of 28 November 2003 the move was considered an expropriative intervention. During the proceedings it was recognized by the Danish government that the movement

296-473: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Sondrestrom Air Base Sondrestrom Air Base , originally Bluie West-8 , was a United States Air Force base in central Greenland . The site is located 60 mi (97 km) north of the Arctic Circle and 90 mi (140 km) from the northeast end of Kangerlussuaq Fjord (formerly known by its Danish name Søndre Strømfjord ). The base

333-528: Is approximately 11 mi (18 km) west-northwest of Ravneklippen and 80 mi (130 km) east of Sisimiut . Following World War II, the base was briefly returned to Danish control between 9 October 1950 and 20 July 1951. The 1951 Greenland bases treaty led to the return of Sondrestrom to American control. The base was turned over to the Greenland government in 1992 and is now the civilian community of Kangerlussuaq and Kangerlussuaq Airport , although

370-488: The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). A major sealift followed. The airport was ready for operation in the spring of 1942. A road of about ten miles length connected the airfield site with the port location (Camp Lloyd) farther down the fjord. Seasonal access for ships is during late summer and early autumn, but during the early days the fjord ice was broken for a much longer period. To identify and guide

407-656: The USAF operates a small Air National Guard detachment in the former base. Following the fall of Denmark to Germany in World War II , responsibility for the security of Greenland passed to the American military under the terms of a 9 April 1941 treaty with the defected Danish ambassador in Washington, Henrik Kauffmann . Military leaders responded by building several bases in Greenland,

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444-476: The airlift to build Thule AB, although it had little function of its own, and rarely had permanently stationed aircraft. However, the base also served to support air refueling tankers, and trans-Atlantic ferry flights for short-ranged jet fighters continued to transit in the post-war period. When the Distant Early Warning Line was constructed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Sondrestrom AB received

481-548: The approach to BW-8, an auxiliary station was placed at Cruncher Island, also known as Simiutak , at the entrance to Sondrestromfjord. This station, operational 4 September 1942, provided meteorological reports, radio communications, radio beacon and lights for air and sea traffic. It was known as BW-9. BW-8 was intended as a link in a northern air ferry route known to U.S. planners as the Crimson Route , but it transpired that few aircraft were ferried to Europe through it. Instead,

518-530: The area in 1917 in connection with the purchase of the Virgin Islands . Denmark assumed control of the village in 1937. A cluster of huts known as Pituffik ("the place the dogs are tied") stood on the wide plain where the base was built in 1951. (A main base street was named Pituffik Boulevard.) The affected locals moved to Thule. However, in 1953 the USAF planned to construct an air defense site near that village, and in order to prevent contact with soldiers in

555-493: The area from the USCGC ; Northland , which now carried the same SOC-4 for aerial surveys. Charts and plans were drawn up in expectation of a major construction expedition that fall. The expedition also charted seaplane operating sites at Monroe Bay (Tatsip Ata) and Angujartorfik downfjords from Sondrestrom. Bluie West-8 was founded on 7 October 1941 by a 31-man expedition commanded by Captain (later Colonel) Bernt Balchen of

592-534: The base earned its keep as an alternate field, a radio and weather reporting station, and as a departure point for search-and-rescue operations elsewhere in Greenland. During the two years Colonel Balchen was in command, he led numerous expeditions throughout the island, primarily in rescue operations for downed aircrew. As a reliever for the Greenland Command headquarters base in Narsarsuaq, Bluie West One , BW-8

629-509: The base for occasional traffic, and in particular for the yearly resupply of the DYE stations. It was also a center for seasonal scientific activity. Following the fall of the Soviet Union and the abandonment of the DYE stations in 1991, the usefulness of the base was greatly diminished. The last US Air Force personnel left the base on 30 September 1992. It then became Kangerlussuaq airport: still

666-528: The center of the Greenland ice sheet ( Greenlandic : Sermersuaq ), and as such is free of traffic. In the east and northeast it is bordered by the Northeast Greenland National Park . At the southern end of the municipal coastline are the waters of Disko Bay , although some Disko Bay communities belong to the municipality of Qeqertalik . This bay is an inlet of the larger Baffin Bay , which to

703-559: The coast. The approaches are clear, although the runway has a slope. During August 1940, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Duane supported an aerial survey commanded by Army Captain Julius K. Lacey. From Lacey's Curtiss SOC-4 , numerous photographs were obtained of promising runway alignments in the area. From 6 to 11 May 1941, the South Greenland Survey Expedition led by Lieutenant Commander William E. Sinton further examined

740-536: The early 1960's, SAS' new DC-8-33 jets operated a Copenhagen-Sondrestrom-Los Angeles route. This use declined in the mid-1960s, as fan-jet airliners gained greater range. In the 1970s, Boeing 707-320B jetliners operated by Dan-Air between the United Kingdom and Vancouver stopped to refuel. The base also became the hub of Greenland air traffic and was the destination for almost all regular air service from and to Copenhagen. The United States Air Force continued to use

777-480: The formerly disputed Hans Island 's eastern half, while Canada's Qiqiktaluuk Region administers the western half. Avannaata's municipal council consists of 17 members, elected every four years. Kalaallisut , the West Greenlandic dialect, is spoken in the towns and settlements of the western and northwestern coasts. Inuktun is also spoken in and around Qaanaaq. This Greenland location article

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814-580: The head of the fjord. The Qaanaaq area in northern Greenland was first settled around 2000 BCE by Paleo-Eskimos migrating from the Canadian Arctic. These people were displaced by the Thule culture which followed the same migration route around 1100 CE. By 1600, climatic effects of the Little Ice Age caused the semi-nomadic Thule culture in Greenland to fragment into isolated groups, with inhabitants of

851-421: The kayaks; the flesh and offal are eaten by humans and domestic animals; the narwhal and walrus tusks are carved into finely-worked figures, jewellery and hunting implements; and feathers can be used in handicrafts. The local school, Avanersuup Atuarfia, has around 120 pupils in forms 1 to 10. There is also a boarding school which holds about 20 students from surrounding settlements. The town kindergarten has

888-576: The largest of which were Bluie West One in Narsarsuaq in southern Greenland and Bluie West Eight along the Kangerlussuaq fjord. The site of BW-8 had already been contemplated for an airfield, and Professor William Hobbs of the University of Michigan had operated a meteorological station there in 1927–28. That station was named Mount Evans, while the supporting base camp at the site of the present seaport

925-531: The local Inuktun language and many also speak Kalaallisut and Danish . Qaanaaq is one of the northernmost towns in the world. Within Greenland, it is the northernmost major town and the third northernmost public settlement, after nearby Qeqertat and Siorapaluk . Qaanaaq is located in the northern entrance of the Inglefield Fjord . The village of Qeqertat is located in the Harvard Islands , near

962-502: The main hub for Greenland air travel. Since 1971, rockets such as the Nike Apache , Petrel , Nike Tomahawk , Black Brant , Terrier Malemute , Taurus Orion , and Taurus Nike Tomahawk TNT have been launched from a site close to Kangerlussuaq (specifically, at 67°01′23″N 050°35′49″W  /  67.02306°N 50.59694°W  / 67.02306; -50.59694  ( Kangerlussuaq rocket launches ) ) for examination of

999-479: The north edges into the island of Greenland in the form of Melville Bay . The coastline of northeastern Baffin Bay is dotted with islands of the Upernavik Archipelago , which is entirely contained within the municipality. In the far northwest near Qaanaaq and Siorapaluk , the municipal shores extend into Nares Strait , which separates Greenland from Ellesmere Island . Avannaata's western side extends to

1036-535: The northwest diverging as the Inughuit . As they lost access to open water due to thickening sea ice, they lost the ability to build boats and had limited hunting opportunities. In 1818, Sir John Ross 's expedition made first contact with nomadic Inuktun (Polar Eskimos) in the area. James Saunders 's expedition aboard HMS North Star was marooned in North Star Bay 1849–50 and named landmarks. Robert Peary built

1073-403: The original 1946 airstrip and across the bay from the historical Thule settlement, to which it is connected by an ice road. The joint Danish-American defense area, designated by treaty, also occupies considerable inland territory in addition to the air base itself. The town of Qaanaaq was established in the winter of 1953 when the United States expanded Pituffik Space Base and forcibly relocated

1110-528: The population of Pituffik and Dundas 31 km (19 mi) to the north within four days. The settlement was subsequently moved another 100 km (62 mi) to the north. A 48.6-kilogram (107-pound) fragment of the Cape York meteorite , discovered near Thule in the summer of 1955, is named for the town. Ways of living so far north and in such severe climatic conditions are passed on from generation to generation, and this ability to adapt has contributed to

1147-432: The survival of this small settlement. When the sea becomes open sometime around August, large dinghies with powerful engines are used for both hunting trips and ordinary journeys. There is still sunlight twenty-four hours a day at this time—the midnight sun lasts from the middle of April to the end of August. Scarcity of resources requires they use every part of a harvested animal: the skins are used for clothing and covering

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1184-399: The town — it connects to Qaanaaq Airport . Pickup trucks and SUVs are found in Qaanaaq, but skis, dogsleds and walking are better alternatives for getting around. There is a small hospital (built in the 1950s and rebuilt in 1996) in Qaanaaq with basic health care offered. More advanced care requires transfer to other medical centers in Greenland by air. Dental care is offered in the form of

1221-543: The world. The station is maintained by the Danish Meteorological Institute , and as of 2016 the current operator is Svend Erik Ascanius. With 646 inhabitants as of 2020, Qaanaaq is the largest settlement in the far north of the country. Its population has been relatively stable with only minor fluctuations since the mid-1990s. The city, with its relatively low population and tradition of hunting, currently has more huskies than human residents. Qaanaaq has

1258-459: Was a serious interference and an unlawful act against the local population. The Thule tribe was awarded damages of 500,000 kroner, and the individual members of the tribe who had been exposed to the transfer were granted compensation of 15,000 or 25,000 each. A Danish radio station continued to operate at Dundas, and the abandoned houses remained. The USAF only used that site for about a decade, and it has since returned to civilian use. Knud Rasmussen

1295-498: Was by late 1942 assisted by small fields at Bluie East Two in East Greenland, and Teague Field on the west coast about midways between BW-8 and BW-1. The Danish government briefly controlled the base in 1950, but following a renewed base treaty (also resulting in the construction of Thule Air Base ), the United States reopened BW-8 under the name of Sondrestrom Air Base on 27 April 1951. Sondrestrom AB then became instrumental in

1332-438: Was named Camp Lloyd. A 1,500 foot long dirt airstrip eight miles east was prepared for the expected aircraft of Atlantic flyers Bert Hassell and Parker Cramer . They, however, ran out of fuel and walked the remaining distance to Sondrestrom. The location at the bottom of Sondrestromfjord is about as far from the coast as one can get on land in Greenland, and though the climate is severe, it is much more favorable for aviation than

1369-455: Was the first to recognize the Pituffik plain as ideal for an airport. USAAF Colonel Bernt Balchen , who built Sondrestrom Air Base , knew Rasmussen and his idea. Balchen led a flight of two Consolidated PBY Catalina flying boats to Thule on 24 August 1942 and then sent a report advocating an air base to USAAF chief Henry "Hap" Arnold . However, the 1951 air base site is a few miles inland from

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