Melville Bay

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Melville Bay
Melville Bugt
Melville-Bay.svg
Location of Melville Bay in Northwest Greenland
Greenland edcp relief location map.jpg
Red pog.svg
Melville Bay
Location Arctic
Coordinates 75°45′N61°00′W / 75.750°N 61.000°W / 75.750; -61.000 Coordinates: 75°45′N61°00′W / 75.750°N 61.000°W / 75.750; -61.000
Native nameQimusseriarsuaq  (Greenlandic)
Ocean/sea sources Baffin Bay
Basin  countries Greenland
Max. length300 km (190 mi)
Max. width100 km (62 mi)
Max. depth1,000 m (3,300 ft)[ citation needed ]
FrozenBetween October and late July

Melville Bay (Greenlandic : Qimusseriarsuaq; Danish : Melville Bugt), is a large bay off the coast of northwestern Greenland. Located to the north of the Upernavik Archipelago, it opens to the south-west into Baffin Bay. Its Kalaallisut name, Qimusseriarsuaq, means "the great dog sledding place". [1]

Contents

The bay was named after Robert Dundas, 2nd Viscount Melville, (1771 - 1851) head of the Admiralty.

Geography

Melville Bay is delimited by Cape York in the northeast and Wilcox Head, the western promontory on Kiatassuaq Island in the south. [2] Some islands of the Upernavik Archipelago are in the Melville Bay area, such as Kiatassuaq Island, Kullorsuaq Island, Saarlia Island and Saqqarlersuaq Island. Melville Bay is free of fast ice between mid August and the end of September on average. Navigation is dangerous as there are numerous icebergs in the bay throughout the year. [3]

An Inuit hunting boat in southern Melville Bay. Late morning fog and icebergs in the background. Melville-bay-hunting-boat.jpg
An Inuit hunting boat in southern Melville Bay. Late morning fog and icebergs in the background.
Aerial view of Wilcox Head Wilcox-Head.jpg
Aerial view of Wilcox Head

History

In the 19th century Melville Bay was an important place for whaling fleets.

View of two ships in Melville Bay by Edward Augustus Inglefield. Edward Augustus Inglefield Phoenix and Breadalbane in Melville Bay.jpg
View of two ships in Melville Bay by Edward Augustus Inglefield.
1869 photograph of a steamer and a party of hunters in Melville Bay. Dunmore & Critcherson (American, active Greenland 1869) - Hunting by steam in Melville Bay, the party after a day's sport killing six Polar bears within the t... - Google Art Project.jpg
1869 photograph of a steamer and a party of hunters in Melville Bay.

See also

Related Research Articles

Upernavik Place in Greenland, Kingdom of Denmark

Upernavik is a small town in the Avannaata municipality in northwestern Greenland, located on a small island of the same name. With 1,092 inhabitants as of 2020, it is the twelfth-largest town in Greenland. It contains the Upernavik Museum.

Kullorsuaq Place in Greenland, Kingdom of Denmark

Kullorsuaq is a settlement in the Avannaata municipality in northwestern Greenland. It is the northernmost settlement in the Upernavik Archipelago, located on Kullorsuaq Island at the southern end of Melville Bay, itself part of the larger Baffin Bay.

Nuussuaq Place in Greenland, Kingdom of Denmark

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Innaarsuit Place in Greenland, Kingdom of Denmark

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Naajaat Place in Greenland, Kingdom of Denmark

Naajaat is a settlement in the Qaasuitsup municipality in northwestern Greenland. Former spellings include Naujât, Naujat, and Naajat. Located on a small island of the same name, the settlement has 49 inhabitants as of 2020.

Upernavik Archipelago Coastal archipelago in Greenland

Upernavik Archipelago is a vast coastal archipelago in the Avannaata municipality in northwestern Greenland, off the shores of northeastern Baffin Bay. The archipelago extends from the northwestern coast of Sigguup Nunaa peninsula in the south at approximately 71°50′N56°00′W to the southern end of Melville Bay in the north at approximately 74°50′N57°30′W.

Kiatassuaq Island

Kiatassuaq Island is an uninhabited island in the northern Upernavik Archipelago in the Qaasuitsup municipality in northwestern Greenland. It marks the southern border of Melville Bay.

Inussullissuaq Island

Inussulissuaq Island is a small uninhabited island in the Melville Bay region of the Upernavik Archipelago in the Qaasuitsup municipality in northwestern Greenland. The name of the island means "a large cairn" in the Greenlandic language.

Wilcox Head is a cape in the Qaasuitsup municipality in northwestern Greenland.

Inussulik Bay is a bay in the Upernavik Archipelago in the Qaasuitsup municipality in northwestern Greenland.

Alison Bay is a bay in the Qaasuitsup municipality in northwestern Greenland. The bay is a tributary bay of Melville Bay, and is located in the northern part of Upernavik Archipelago, between Kiatassuaq Island in the southwest and the mainland of Greenland in the northeast.

Wandel Land is a 15.7 km (52,000 ft) nunatak in the Qaasuitsup municipality in northwestern Greenland. It is one of several nunataks in the Melville Bay region of Greenland, where the Greenland ice sheet drains into the bay alongside its entire length apart from an occasional nunatak.

Kullorsuaq Island

Kullorsuaq Island is an island in the Avannaata municipality in northwestern Greenland. The name of the island means "a big thumb" in the Greenlandic language.

Ikermiut Island

Ikermiut Island is a small, uninhabited island in the Qaasuitsup municipality in northwestern Greenland, located in the center of Inussulik Bay in the northern part of Upernavik Archipelago, approximately halfway between Kiatassuaq Island in the north and Nuussuaq Peninsula in the south.

Saqqarlersuup Sullua is a strait in the Upernavik Archipelago in the Qaasuitsup municipality in northwestern Greenland.

Saqqarlersuaq Island

Saqqarlersuaq Island is an uninhabited island in the Qaasuitsup municipality in northwestern Greenland. Part of the Upernavik Archipelago, Saqqarlersuaq Island is located in the southern part of Melville Bay.

Apparsuit Island

Apparsuit Island is an uninhabited island in the Qaasuitsup municipality in northwestern Greenland. Cape Shackleton, the western promontory of the island, marks the northernmost extent of Tasiusaq Bay, an indentation of Baffin Bay.

Nuussuup Nuua is a cape in the Qaasuitsup municipality in northwestern Greenland.

Qeqertarsuaq, also known as Qeqertaq meaning just "Island", is an island in Avannaata municipality, near Upernavik, in northwestern Greenland. It is located in the Upernavik Archipelago in the Melville Bay of the Baffin Bay.

References

  1. "Melville Bay". Danish Polar Center. Archived from the original on 2011-07-19. Retrieved 2008-05-29.
  2. Upernavik Avannarleq, Saga Map, Tage Schjøtt, 1992
  3. Prostar Sailing Directions 2005 Greenland and Iceland Enroute, p. 82