Isunngua (old spelling: ''Isúngua'') is a

highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally, ''upland'' refers to a range of hills, typically from up to , while ''highland'' is usually reserved for range ...

in the

Qeqqata Qeqqata (, ) is a municipality in western Greenland, operational from 1 January 2009. The municipality was named after its location in the central-western part of the country. Its population is 9,378 as of January 2020. The administrative cente ...

municipality in central-western

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 immediately west of the

Greenland Ice Sheet The Greenland ice sheet is an ice sheet which forms the second largest body of ice in the world. It is an average of thick and over thick at its maximum. It is almost long in a north–south direction, with a maximum width of at a latitude ...

edge. In large part it is covered by the

tundra In physical geography, a tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. There are three regions and associated types of tundra: #Arctic, Arctic, Alpine tundra, Alpine, and #Antarctic ...

, although in the immediate vicinity of the Sermersuaq ice sheet it gradually becomes exposed, barren, and largely devoid of life. The climate is polar continental, with the area receiving very little rainfall. Isunngua is a calving site for

reindeer The reindeer or caribou (''Rangifer tarandus'') is a species of deer with circumpolar distribution, native to Arctic, subarctic, tundra, taiga, boreal, and mountainous regions of Northern Europe, Siberia, and North America. It is the only re ...

Geography

Isunngua is notable for a

gravel Gravel () is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally on Earth as a result of sedimentation, sedimentary and erosion, erosive geological processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. Gr ...

road which leads through it towards the edge of the Greenland Ice Sheet, located east of

Kangerlussuaq Kangerlussuaq (; ; ) is a settlement in western Greenland in the Qeqqata municipalities of Greenland, municipality located at the head of the Kangerlussuaq Fjord, fjord of the same name. It was Greenland's main air transport hub and the site of G ...

, and due to trivial approach it remains a popular tourist target, although very few hikers make the journey on foot, or explore the neighboring glaciers. The highland is bounded from the north by the Isunnguata Sermia glacier, from the south by Russell Glacier (Greenland), Russell Glacier and Aajuitsup Tasia lake, and from the west by Sanningasoq twin lake. Both glaciers flow to the west from the ice sheet, which constrains Isunngua from the east. The average height of the highland hills is approximately . The highland is dotted with freshwater lakes, kettle (landform), kettles, and meltwater outflow lakes Turbidity, saturated with glacial silt.

Road to the ice sheet

In the spring of 2000 the Sweden, Swedish construction group Skanska's Greenlandic subsidiary completed six months' work in establishing a road for the testing company Nausta, which operates a testing site in northern Sweden. The road runs through the Glacier, glacial valley of Akuliarusiarsuup Kuua, from

to the edge of the permanent inland ice in Isunngua. A road stretching was laid on the inland ice. Nausta built the facility to complement the winter testing done by Volkswagen in northern Sweden and Finland.Explore North, Volkswagen Testing Cars in Greenland
/ref> The site at Kangerlussuaq was primarily used in the summer half of the year, from April through October. The entire testing ground was used to test cars' performance in extreme cold and conditions of near-zero friction. The cars were flown from Europe to Kangerlussuaq, and then driven to the proving grounds after last-minute checks. This project was abandoned and from 2006 the road leading to the edge of the ice cap is maintained for tourist purposes only, though access to the last segment of the road is limited and requires a key to open the padlocked gate. Ice activity has demolished the inland ice segment of the road, and it now ends in Isunngua, on the edge of the ice sheet.

Photographs

File:Kettle-glacial-lake-form-isunngua-greenland.jpg, Kettle (landform), Kettle in Isunngua, a round, shallow glacial lake with no outflow File:Kalaallisut-noentry-sign-home-rule.jpg, No entry for regular vehicles, a sign in Greenlandic language, Kalaallisut and Danish language, Danish, Isunngua File:Isunngua-highlands-landscape-greenland.jpg, Highlands of Isunngua, an outflow of a meltwater lake with undrinkable water File:Sermersuaq-isunngua-edge-greenland.jpg, The edge of the Greenland icesheet seen from the road scarp ruin

References

{{reflist Highlands of Greenland Kangerlussuaq