Odinland ( da, Odin Land), also ''Odinsland'' in the

Defense Mapping Agency The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is a combat support agency within the United States Department of Defense whose primary mission is collecting, analyzing, and distributing geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) in support of nationa ...

Greenland Navigation charts, is a peninsula in the

King Frederick VI Coast King Frederick VI Coast ( da, Kong Frederik VI Kyst) is a major geographic division of Greenland. It comprises the coastal area of Southeastern Greenland in Sermersooq and Kujalleq municipalities fronting the Irminger Sea of the North Atlantic ...

, southeastern

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland i ...

. It is a part of the

Sermersooq Sermersooq (, da, sted med meget is, lit=place of much ice) is a municipality in Greenland, formed on 1 January 2009 from five earlier, smaller municipalities. Its administrative seat is the city of Nuuk (formerly called Godthåb), the capital ...

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

. The peninsula is fully exposed to the influence of the Greenland Ice Sheet. In spite of the proximity of the coast and despite being located south of the Arctic Circle, an

ice cap climate An ice cap climate is a polar climate where no mean monthly temperature exceeds . The climate covers areas in or near the high latitudes (65° latitude) to polar regions (70–90° north and south latitude), such as Antarctica, some of the northe ...

prevails in Odinland.

History

Arctic explorer

Wilhelm August Graah Wilhelm August Graah (1793–1863) was a Danish naval officer and Arctic explorer. Graah had mapped areas of West Greenland when he, in 1828–30, was sent by King Frederick VI of Denmark on an expedition to the unmapped eastern coast with t ...

of the

Danish Navy The Royal Danish Navy ( da, Søværnet) is the sea-based branch of the Danish Defence force. The RDN is mainly responsible for maritime defence and maintaining the sovereignty of Danish territorial waters (incl. Faroe Islands and Greenland). Oth ...

explored this area in 1828–30, during an expedition in search of the legendary Eastern Norse Settlement and named this lonely peninsula after Odin. A large icy coastal stretch was named "Colberger Heide" by Graah, owing to its shore being lined with active glaciers and ice cliffs. This was one of the most dangerous stretches of the shore for the Southeast-Greenland Inuit that used to live hunting and fishing along the coast.Spencer Apollonio, ''Lands that Hold One Spellbound: A Story of East Greenland'', p. 39

Geography

Odinland is surrounded to the southeast by the

Bernstorff Fjord Bernstorff Fjord ( da, Bernstorff Isfjord; kl, Kangertittivaq) is a fjord in King Frederick VI Coast, eastern Greenland. Administratively it is part of the Sermersooq municipality. The fjord was named after Danish statesman Andreas Peter Bernst ...

(Kangertittivaq) —across which lies the

Thorland Thorland ( da, Thors Land) is a peninsula in the King Frederick VI Coast, southeastern Greenland. It is a part of the Sermersooq municipality. History One of the coastal islands, Igdluluarssuk (Sattiaatteq) at the entrance of the fjord on its s ...

Peninsula, to the east by the

Irminger Sea The Irminger Sea is a marginal sea of the North Atlantic Ocean. It is bordered to the west by southern Greenland, to the north by Iceland and the Denmark Strait, to the east by the Reykjanes Ridge (a northern part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge), ...

and to the north by the Umiiviip Kangertiva (Gyldenløve Fjord). To the west lies the Fimbul Glacier and to the northwest the peninsula is attached to the mainland.

GoogleEarth Google Earth is a computer program that renders a 3D computer graphics, 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposition, superimposing satellite images, aerial photography, and geog ...

Cape Møsting Cape Møsting ( da, Kap Møsting) is a headland in the North Atlantic Ocean, southeast Greenland, Kujalleq municipality. History Cape Møsting was named by Lieutenant Wilhelm August Graah in 1829 during his East Coast expedition. Graah took a la ...

''(Kap Møsting)'' is a steep and prominent headland at the southeastern end near the mouth of the Bernstorff Fjord, at . To the north of this point, the shore is bold and precipitous with glaciers protruding into the sea at every coastal cleft or ravine until the mouth of Quseertaliip Kangertiva (Otte Krumpen Fjord).''Prostar Sailing Directions 2005 Greenland and Iceland Enroute'', p. 102 At this point the northeastern part of Odinland forms the Kangerajiip Apusiia (Colberger Heide), a large glacier-covered headland, limited in the southeast by the small Quseertaliip Kangertiva (Otte Krumpen Fjord), to the east by the

, to the north by the Umivik Bay and to the northwest by the Vikingevig. Unlike the peninsulas further south Odinland is heavily glaciated, with the large Sleipner Glacier flowing westwards from its central part and the Gjallerbroen flowing eastwards. The Ydun Glacier, Gerd Glacier and Gymer Glacier are smaller glaciers flowing into the Bernstorff Fjord from the southern shore. The Gungner Ice Cap is located in a roughly eastern position in the middle of the peninsula.

Mountains

In Odinland there are several nunataks protruding above the ice, with Ensom Majestaet ('Lonely Majesty'), Ensomme Skraent ('Lonely Slope'), Eqaluttusoq, Hammerfaldet, Hustoppen ('Housetop'), Pelikanen, Spidstoppen and the Tyr Mountains in the central part of the peninsula, and Alukajik, Ørnen, Tommeltotten and Trillingerne ('Triplets') in the northeast. The Brages Range is a long nunatak in the western part rising above the Fimbul Glacier, and the Alfheimbjerg rises on the other side of the glacier, off Odinland. The highest point in Odinland is high Ensom Majestaet rising in the central part of the peninsula at .

References

External links

Den grønlandske Lods - GeodatastyrelsenNot so green - Odin Land
{{greenland-geo-stub

History

Geography

Mountains

See also

References

External links