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22-820: Administratively it lies in the Northeast Greenland National Park area. This fjord is part of the King Oscar Fjord system. This fjord was named by Swedish Arctic explorer Alfred Gabriel Nathorst after the Kungliga Svenska Segelsällskapet , the Royal Swedish Yacht Club during the Swedish Greenland Expedition in search of survivors of S. A. Andrée's Arctic balloon expedition of 1897 . In 1899, while first exploring King Oscar Fjord, Nathorst wanted to reach

44-622: A museum, with a collection of artefacts from polar explorations. In 1993 zinc and lead deposits were discovered in the Citronen Fjord . They are deemed the largest yet unexploited zinc deposits in the world, and the exploitation of the Citronen mine is in the preparation phase. Important zinc and barium deposits have also been found at Navarana Fjord . Peary Land is bounded by the Lincoln Sea (west of Cape Morris Jesup) and Wandel Sea of

66-425: Is a peninsula. There are more than 200 kilometers of dry land up to 1500 meters high between Nordenskiöld Fjord and Independence Fjord. There are two Arctic research stations on Jørgen Brønlund Fjord , Brønlundhus (erected in 1948) and Cape Harald Moltke (erected in 1972). Both stations were built on the initiative of Eigil Knuth and have been the basis for many scientific expeditions. Cape Harald Moltke station

88-596: Is only a bit more than 700 kilometres (435 mi) south of the North Pole . Peary Land is not covered by an ice cap because the air is too dry to produce snow. Precipitation levels are so low (only about 25 millimetres (1 in) per year) that most of its surface is polar desert . Located mostly north of the 82°N parallel , it contains the most northerly ice-free region of the world, mostly in Southern Peary Land (such as Melville Land and Herlufsholm Strand ) on

110-496: Is the world's largest national park and the 10th largest protected area (the only larger protected areas consist mostly of sea). Established in 1974, the Northeast Greenland national park expanded to its present size in 1988. It protects 972,000 km (375,000 sq mi) of the interior and northeastern coast of Greenland and is larger than the area of Tanzania , but smaller than that of Egypt . This means that

132-679: The Sermersooq municipality in the south and with the Avannaata municipality in the west, partly along the 45° West meridian on the ice cap. The large interior of the park is part of the Greenland Ice Sheet , but there are also large ice-free areas along the coast and on Peary Land in the north. The park includes the King Frederick VIII Land and King Christian X Land geographical areas. Originally established on 22 May 1974 from

154-492: The Arctic Ocean in the north. Oodaaq island, the northernmost point of land of the world, lies off the north coast. Frederick E. Hyde Fjord , which cuts into Peary Land from the east 150 kilometres (93 mi) deep, divides it into Northern Peary Land and Southern Peary Land. Cape Eiler Rasmussen is the easternmost point. The coastline is deeply indented by smaller fjords , such as G.B. Schley Fjord and Hellefisk Fjord in

176-747: The Greenland Department of Environment and Nature. The historical research camps on the ice sheet— Eismitte and North Ice —fall within the boundaries of the present-day park. The park has no permanent human population, although 400 sites see occasional summertime use. In 1986, the population of the park was 40, living at Mestersvig . These 40 were involved in cleanup and closeout operations at mining exploration sites and soon left. Since then, censuses have recorded zero permanent human population. In 2008, only 31 people and about 110 dogs were present over winter in North East Greenland, distributed among

198-576: The NE point of Nathorst Land , from where the Alpefjord branches southwards for 38 km (24 mi), and the Forsblad Fjord continues roughly westwards for 32 km (20 mi). The fjord is mostly surrounded by high mountains rising steeply from its shore to heights of over 2,000 m (6,600 ft). Part of its northern flank marks the southern boundary of Lyell Land and the eastern shore of Alpefjord

220-411: The coastal regions of the park. In 1993, this was estimated to be 40% of the world population of musk oxen. Other mammals include Arctic fox , stoat , collared lemming , Arctic hare and a small but important population of Greenland wolf . Other marine mammals include ringed seal , bearded seal , harp seal and hooded seal as well as narwhal and beluga whale . Species of birds which breed in

242-610: The east, and Sands Fjord , Benedict Fjord , J.P. Koch Fjord , De Long Fjord and Weyprecht Fjord in the west. Børglum River , the largest river in Greenland, is located in Peary Land. Peary Land is not part of any municipality but belongs to the Northeast Greenland National Park . The size of the region is about 375 kilometres (233 mi) from east to west and 200 kilometres (124 mi) from north to south, with an estimated area of 57,000 square kilometres (22,008 sq mi). It

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264-472: The following stations (all on the coast, except Summit Camp ): During summer, scientists add to these numbers. The research station Zackenberg Ecological Research Operations (ZERO) 74°28′11″N 20°34′15″W  /  74.469725°N 20.570847°W  / 74.469725; -20.570847 can cater for over 20 scientists and station personnel. An estimated 5,000 to 15,000 musk oxen , as well as numerous polar bears and walrus , can be found near

286-516: The main island by the so-called Peary Channel , an assumed connection between Nordenskiöld Fjord and Independence Fjord which in fact did not exist. Ludvig Mylius-Erichsen (1872–1907), the ill-fated leader of the Denmark expedition , searched in vain for the Peary Channel in 1907 and was misled to his death by existing maps. Knud Rasmussen 's First Thule Expedition confirmed in 1912 that Peary Land

308-617: The national park is bigger than 166 of the world's 195 countries. It was the first national park to be created in the Kingdom of Denmark and remains Greenland's only national park. It is the northernmost national park in the world and the second-largest by area of any second-level subdivision of any country in the world, trailing only the Qikiqtaaluk Region in Nunavut , Canada. The park shares borders, largely laid out as straight lines , with

330-423: The north, with Cape Morris Jesup , the northernmost point of Greenland's mainland, and Cape Bridgman in the northeast. Peary Land was historically inhabited by three separate cultures, during which times the climate was milder than presently: The area is named after Robert E. Peary , who first explored it during his expedition of 1891 to 1892. Originally, Peary Land was believed to be an island, separated from

352-462: The northern side of Independence Fjord . It was not covered by glaciers during the most recent ice age. However, in its western part, there is the Hans Tausen Ice Cap with ice at least 344 metres (1,129 ft) thick. Peary Land is mountainous; the highest elevation is Helvetia Tinde reaching up to 1,929 m (6,329 ft) in the heavily glaciated and little-explored Roosevelt Range ,

374-446: The northern, practically uninhabited part of the former Ittoqqortoormiit Municipality in Tunu (East Greenland), in 1988 the park was expanded by another 272,000 km (105,000 sq mi) to its present size, adding the northeastern part of the former county of Avannaa (North Greenland). In January 1977, it was designated an international biosphere reserve . The park is overseen by

396-516: The northernmost mountain range in the world. The 1,737 m (5,699 ft) high Wistar Bjerg in the Nordkrone and the 1,433 m (4,701 ft) high Stjernebannertinde , highest point of the H.H. Benedict Range (a subrange of the Roosevelt Range), Musk oxen and Peary Land collared lemmings are supported by the sparse vegetation, which covers only about 5% of the surface, mostly in

418-470: The park include great northern diver , barnacle goose , pink-footed goose , common eider , king eider , gyrfalcon , snowy owl , sanderling , ptarmigan and raven . Peary Land Peary Land is a peninsula in northern Greenland , extending into the Arctic Ocean . It reaches from Victoria Fjord in the west to Independence Fjord in the south and southeast, and to the Arctic Ocean in

440-595: The sea through Davy Sound , which had been put on the map by William Scoresby in 1822, but the sound was blocked by ice. While travelling back north he found and mapped both this fjord branch, as well as the Kempe Fjord further north. This fjord is one of the western branches of the King Oscar Fjord. Its mouth opens between Cape Petersons and Cape Lagerberg in an area of small islands. It extends roughly southwestwards for 20 km (12 mi) until Cape Maeche ,

462-615: The western limit of the Stauning Alps and Scoresby Land . The Sedgwick Glacier , the Linné Glacier and the Skjoldunge Glacier have their terminus in the fjord. This Greenland location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Northeast Greenland National Park Northeast Greenland National Park ( Greenlandic : Kalaallit Nunaanni nuna eqqissisimatitaq , Danish : Grønlands Nationalpark )

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484-436: Was built later in connection with use of the natural runway east of Jørgen Brønlund Fjord mouth. The stations are located 10 km from each other on either side of the fjord, with Brønlundhus on the western side, and communication between them in summer is by boat, depending on ice conditions. Since the death of Eigil Knuth, the stations have been administered by Peary Land Foundation. Today, Brønlundhus can be characterised as

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