Kempe Fjord () is a
fjord
In physical geography, a fjord (also spelled fiord in New Zealand English; ) is a long, narrow sea inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Antarctica, the Arctic, and surrounding landmasses of the n ...
in
King Christian X Land, eastern
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 ...
.
Administratively it lies in the
Northeast Greenland National Park
Northeast Greenland National Park (, ) is the world's largest national park and the 10th largest protected area (the only larger protected areas consist mostly of sea). Established in 1974, the Northeast Greenland national park expanded to its p ...
area. This fjord is part of the
King Oscar Fjord system.
[''Prostar Sailing Directions 2005 Greenland and Iceland Enroute'', p. 119]
History
This fjord was named by a Swedish
Arctic explorer
Arctic exploration is the physical exploration of the Arctic region of the Earth. It refers to the historical period during which mankind has explored the region north of the Arctic Circle. Historical records suggest that humankind have explored ...
Alfred Gabriel Nathorst
Alfred Gabriel Nathorst (7 November 1850 – 20 January 1921) was a Swedish Arctic explorer, geologist, and palaeobotanist. He travelled to Spitzbergen, Svalbard and Greenland where he took an interest in the Arctic floras from the Paleozoic ...
after a
Stockholm
Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...
businessman
Seth Michael Kempe (1857– 1946), during the Swedish Greenland Expedition in search of survivors of
S. A. Andrée's Arctic balloon expedition of 1897
S is the nineteenth letter of the English alphabet.
S may also refer to:
History
* an Anglo-Saxon charter's number in Peter Sawyer's, catalogue
Language and linguistics
* Long s (ſ), a form of the lower-case letter s formerly used where "s ...
. Kempe was one of Nathorst's most generous supporters and also a good friend of expedition surveyor
Per Dusén
Per or PER may refer to:
Places
* Peru (IOC country code)
* Pér, a village in Hungary
* Perthshire (Chapman code), historic county in Scotland
Science and technology
* Physics education research
* Packed Encoding Rules, in computing, an ASN.1 wi ...
.
[''Catalogue of place names in northern East Greenland'', Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland]
In 1899, while first exploring King Oscar Fjord, Nathorst wanted to reach the sea through
Davy Sound
The Davy Sound () is a sound in King Christian X Land, Northeast Greenland. Administratively it is part of the Northeast Greenland National Park zone. History
The sound was named and put on the map by William Scoresby (1789 – 1857) in 1822 in h ...
, which had been put on the map by
William Scoresby
William Scoresby (5 October 178921 March 1857) was an English whaler, Arctic explorer, scientist and clergyman.
Early years
Scoresby was born in the village of Cropton near Pickering south-west of Whitby in Yorkshire. His father, Willia ...
in 1822, but the sound was blocked by ice. While travelling back north he found and mapped both this fjord branch, as well as the
Segelsällskapet Fjord further south.
[Spencer Apollonio, ''Lands That Hold One Spellbound: A Story of East Greenland,'' 2008]
Geography
This fjord is the northernmost of the western branches of the King Oscar Fjord. Its mouth opens at the western end of
Ella Island, where the
Narwhal Sound branches southeastwards.
It extends roughly southwestwards for about until
Cape Hedlund, from where the fjord divides into three branches:
*
Dickson Fjord, extends to the WNW for another . The terminus of the
Hisingers Glacier is at its head.
*
Röhss Fjord, extending to the WSW for about . At its head there is a sloping valley.
*
Rhedin Fjord, extending to the SSW for about . The terminus of the
Wahlenberg Glacier is at its head.
The northwestern shore of the fjord forms the southern shore of
Suess Land, and the southeastern, the northern shore of
Lyell Land.
Gletscherland lies to the west of the fjord system.
The
Argand Glacier Argand may refer to:
* Aimé Argand (1755 – 1803), Swiss physicist and chemist and inventor of the argand lamp
* Émile Argand (1879 – 1940), Swiss geologist
* Jean-Robert Argand (1768 – 1822), French amateur mathematician
** Arg ...
has its terminus in the fjord.
See also
*
List of fjords of Greenland
This is a list of the most important fjords of Greenland:In Greenland, Northern Greenland, a large area made up entirely of fjords; therefore Peary Land above not a fjord but a fjord area.In Greenland, Northeastern Greenland, a large area made ...
References
{{Reflist, 2
External links
Simplified geologic map of Central Fjord region of East Greenland
Fjords of Greenland