Innaarsuit
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Innaarsuit (old spelling: ''Ivnârssuit'') is an island settlement in
Avannaata Avannaata (, ) is a municipality of Greenland created on 1 January 2018 from the bulk of the former Qaasuitsup municipality. It encompasses an area of 522,700 km2 and has 10,726 inhabitants. Geography In the south, Avannaata is flanked ...
municipality in northwestern
Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...
, located on an island of the same name. the settlement had 180 inhabitants in 2020.


Upernavik Archipelago

Innaarsuit is located within Upernavik Archipelago, a vast archipelago of small islands on the coast of northeastern
Baffin Bay Baffin Bay (Inuktitut: ''Saknirutiak Imanga''; ; ; ), located between Baffin Island and the west coast of Greenland, is defined by the International Hydrographic Organization as a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is sometimes considered a s ...
. The archipelago extends from the northwestern coast of
Sigguup Nunaa 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. Geography The ...
peninsula in the south at approximately Nunavik, Saga Map, 1:250.000, Tage Schjøtt, 1992 to the southern end of
Melville Bay Melville Bay (; ), 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 pla ...
() in the north at approximately .Upernavik Avannarleq, Saga Map, 1:250.000, Tage Schjøtt, 1992


Infrastructure

The settlement has grown up around the harbour, which lies in a natural bay on the island's west coast, where boats can lie sheltered from the wind. At the harbour, which has a
jetty A jetty is a man-made structure that protrudes from land out into water. A jetty may serve as a breakwater (structure), breakwater, as a walkway, or both; or, in pairs, as a means of constricting a channel. The term derives from the French la ...
with a
quay A wharf ( or wharfs), quay ( , also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more Berth (mo ...
length of nine meters and a water depth of two metres, are the village's commercial areas and a smaller central area with the common service facilities such as includes service center, branch office, village consultation,
chapel A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...
and school. Childcare takes place in day care. There is a
Pilersuisoq Pilersuisoq is a chain of all-purpose general stores in Greenland, a major division of the Parliament of Greenland, state-owned KNI (Greenland Trade), KNI conglomerate. Like its parent company, it is based in Sisimiut (Holsteinsborg), the list of ...
shop which supplies the residents with food and other necessary items. The electricity supply is based on a
diesel Diesel may refer to: * Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression * Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines * Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine ...
-powered municipal plant and the heat supply by an oil boiler. In 2002, a 750 meter water mains network was established in connection with 3 new tap houses and the supply of water to the production facilities. The water supply is based on
surface water Surface water is water located on top of land, forming terrestrial (surrounding by land on all sides) waterbodies, and may also be referred to as ''blue water'', opposed to the seawater and waterbodies like the ocean. The vast majority of surfac ...
. The night renovation takes place by collecting bags, which are emptied into the sea.


Education

Innaarsuit does not have an
assembly hall An assembly hall is a hall to hold public meetings or meetings of an organization such as a school, church, or deliberative assembly. An example of the last case is the Assembly Hall (Washington, Mississippi) where the general assembly of the s ...
, but the hall in the service building forms the overall framework for the settlement's cultural and leisure life. The children are taught in the primary school "Fiilimuup Atuarfia", which has room for 25 students from 1st to 8th grade.  One teacher and four substitutes are employed. The school is housed in buildings that were extended and renovated in 1992. The school is also used as a church.


Economy

The harbor and the center area are surrounded by a residential area with scattered single-family houses. The village's business base is
fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...
and catching
whales Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully Aquatic animal, aquatic placental mammal, placental marine mammals. As an informal and Colloquialism, colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea ...
and
seals Seals may refer to: * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to impress an emblem, used as a means of a ...
.
Halibut Halibut is the common name for three species of flatfish in the family of right-eye flounders. In some regions, and less commonly, other species of large flatfish are also referred to as halibut. The word is derived from ''haly'' (holy) and ...
fishing in particular is an important source of income. Royal Greenland has a department in the settlement that butchers and freezes halibut.


Population

Innaarsuit is one of the few settlements in Avannaata municipality exhibiting significant growth patterns over the course of the last two decades, increasing by nearly half relative to 1990 levels, similarly to other settlements in the northern half of the archipelago:
Kullorsuaq 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 Baff ...
, and Tasiusaq.Statistics Greenland
The settlement was established around 1911. Until 1950, the settlement had only 30 inhabitants, but after that the number has been increasing. The island's highest point is the 310 meter high mountain Saattup Akia.


Transport

During weekdays
Air Greenland Air Greenland Aktieselskab, A/S (formerly named Grønlandsfly and Greenlandair) is the flag carrier of Greenland, owned by the Naalakkersuisut, Greenlandic Government. It operates a fleet of 28 aircraft, including a single Airbus A330-800 airli ...
serves the village as part of government contract, with flights from Innaarsuit Heliport to Tasiusaq Heliport and to
Upernavik Airport Upernavik Airport (, ) is an airport located northeast of Upernavik, a town in Avannaata municipality in northwestern Greenland, capable of serving STOL aircraft. It is used as a transfer airport for passenger/cargo traffic to northern Greenla ...
.


2018 Iceberg

In July 2018, an unusually large
iceberg An iceberg is a piece of fresh water ice more than long that has broken off a glacier or an ice shelf and is floating freely in open water. Smaller chunks of floating glacially derived ice are called "growlers" or "bergy bits". Much of an i ...
appeared off the shore of Innaarsuit. Some residents were evacuated in case the iceberg calved causing a wave that could swamp the settlement.


References

{{Upernavik Archipelago Populated places in Greenland Populated places of Arctic Greenland Tasiusaq Bay Upernavik Archipelago