Qassersuaq Peninsula

Last updated May 03, 2019

Qassersuaq Peninsula (Upernavik Archipelago)

Qassersuaq Peninsula (old spelling: Qagsserssuaq) is a mainland peninsula in northwestern Greenland, located in the south-central part of Upernavik Archipelago.^[1]

A peninsula is a landform surrounded by water on the majority of its border while being connected to a mainland from which it extends. The surrounding water is usually understood to be continuous, though not necessarily named as a single body of water. Peninsulas are not always named as such; one can also be a headland, cape, island promontory, bill, point, or spit. A point is generally considered a tapering piece of land projecting into a body of water that is less prominent than a cape. A river which courses through a very tight meander is also sometimes said to form a "peninsula" within the loop of water. In English, the plural versions of peninsula are peninsulas and, less commonly, peninsulae.

Greenland is an autonomous constituent country of the Kingdom of Denmark between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for more than a millennium. The majority of its residents are Inuit, whose ancestors began migrating from the Canadian mainland in the 13th century, gradually settling across the island.

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.

Geography

The peninsula is of triangular shape, with the base adjacent to the Greenland ice sheet (Greenlandic : Sermersuaq), south of the Alanngorsuup Sermia glacier. The distance from the Qaassorsuaq promontory in the west at 73°05′10″N55°42′55″W / 73.08611°N 55.71528°W / 73.08611; -55.71528 , to the innermost unglaciated part of the mainland is 24.3 km (15.1 mi). In the northwest, the inner waterways of southern Tasiusaq Bay weakly indent the peninsula with the Nuniaat Bay. In the south, the Qassersuit Saqqaa strait separates the peninsula from a chain of larger islands of the archipelago, bounding Upernavik Icefjord from the northeast: Maniitsoq Island, Puugutaa Island, Sisuarissut Island, and Qaneq Island.^[1]

The Greenland ice sheet is a vast body of ice covering 1,710,000 square kilometres (660,000 sq mi), roughly 80% of the surface of Greenland.

Greenlandic (kalaallisut) is an Eskimo–Aleut language spoken by about 56,000 Greenlandic Inuit in Greenland. It is closely related to the Inuit languages in Canada such as Inuktitut. The main variety, Kalaallisut or West Greenlandic, has been the official language of the Greenlandic autonomous territory since June 2009; this is a move by the Naalakkersuisut to strengthen the language in its competition with the colonial language, Danish. The second variety is Tunumiit oraasiat or East Greenlandic. The Thule Inuit of Greenland, Inuktun or Polar Eskimo, is a recent arrival and a dialect of Inuktitut.

Alanngorsuup Sermia is a tidewater glacier in the Qaasuitsup municipality on the northwestern shore of Greenland. It drains the Greenland ice sheet northwestwards into Tasiusaq Bay. The glacier front is located to the south of the Nunatarsuaq nunatak, and to the north of the Qassersuaq Peninsula. Nunatakassaup Sermia, a sibling glacier to the north, drains the icesheet into the same point at the inner end of Tasiusaq Bay.

The peninsula is very mountainous, culminating in several glaciated summits. The highest, unnamed peak in the center of the peninsula reaches 1,160 m (3,810 ft). Other named summits include Qassersuit at 1,080 m (3,540 ft) in the center, Issumaarsuaq at 870 m (2,850 ft) in the north, and Nuniaat Qaqqarsua at 1,023 m (3,356 ft) in the west.^[1]

Qassersuit is a mountain of Greenland. It is located in the Upernavik Archipelago.

Nuniaat Qaqqarsua is a mountain of Greenland. It is located in the Upernavik Archipelago.

Related Research Articles

Nunavik Peninsula is a large peninsula in northwestern Greenland. It separates two cultural and geographical regions of northwestern Greenland: Uummannaq Fjord region in the southeast, and Upernavik Archipelago in the north.

Nuussuaq Peninsula is a mainland peninsula in northwestern Greenland, located at the northern end of Upernavik Archipelago, approximately 70 km (43 mi) to the south of Melville Bay. It is much smaller than its namesake in western Greenland.

Qullikorsuit Island is an uninhabited island in the Qaasuitsup municipality in northwestern Greenland. It is located in the northern part of Upernavik Archipelago.

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.

Ammarqua Strait is a strait in the southern part of the Upernavik Archipelago in the Qaasuitsup municipality in northwestern Greenland.

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.

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

Sanningassorsuaq Peninsula is a mainland peninsula in northwestern Greenland, located at the northern end of Upernavik Archipelago.

Ikerasaa Strait is a strait in the Upernavik Archipelago in the Qaasuitsup municipality in northwestern Greenland. The strait separates Kiatassuaq Island in the north from the mainland Sanningassorsuaq Peninsula in the south. The name of the strait is the local dialect version of ikerasak, a generic word for 'strait' in the Greenlandic language.

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.

Amitsorsuaq Island is a small, uninhabited island in the Qaasuitsup municipality in northwestern Greenland.

Torsukattak Strait is a strait in the Qaasuitsup municipality in northwestern Greenland.

Sugar Loaf Bay is a bay in the Upernavik Archipelago in the Qaasuitsup municipality in northwestern Greenland. It is an indentation of northeastern Baffin Bay. The name of the bay derives from the name of an island of the same name in the bay, Sugar Loaf Island.

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.

Anoritooq is a nunatak in the Qaasuitsup municipality in northwestern Greenland.

Orsugissap Qaqqarsua is a nunatak of the Greenland ice sheet in the Qaasuitsup municipality in northwestern Greenland.

Illulissuaq Peninsula is a mainland peninsula in northwestern Greenland, located in the northern part of Upernavik Archipelago

Tasiusaq Bay is a bay in the Upernavik Archipelago in the Qaasuitsup municipality in northwestern Greenland. It is an indentation of northeastern Baffin Bay. The name of the bay derives from the name of the settlement of the same name in the bay.

Qallunaat Island is an uninhabited island in the Qaasuitsup municipality in northwestern Greenland.

Nunatarsuaq is a nunatak in the Qaasuitsup municipality in northwestern Greenland.

References

1 2 3 Upernavik, Saga Map, 1:250.000, Tage Schjøtt, 1992

Coordinates: 73°06′N55°20′W / 73.100°N 55.333°W / 73.100; -55.333

Geographic coordinate system Coordinate system

A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are often chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position and two or three of the numbers represent a horizontal position; alternatively, a geographic position may be expressed in a combined three-dimensional Cartesian vector. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation. To specify a location on a plane requires a map projection.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[saga-1] 1 2 3 Upernavik, Saga Map, 1:250.000, Tage Schjøtt, 1992