Kiatassuaq Island (old spelling: ''Kiatagssuaq'', , Holm Island) is an uninhabited

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

in the northern

Upernavik Archipelago 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 ...

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 ...

. It marks the southern border 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 ...

History

The name of the island means "''a large torso''" in the

Greenlandic language Greenlandic, also known by its Endonym and exonym, endonym Kalaallisut (, ), is an Inuit languages, Inuit language belonging to the Eskaleut languages#Internal classification, Eskimoan branch of the Eskaleut languages, Eskaleut language family. ...

. Initially, before the northbound migration phase of the 1920s, the island was named differently: "''Nuussuaq Ungalleq''", or ''the farther large point'', in reference to

Nuussuaq Peninsula Nuussuaq Peninsula (, old spelling: ''Nûgssuaq'') is a large () peninsula in western Greenland. Geography The waters around the peninsula are that of Baffin Bay. To the south and southwest the peninsula is bounded by Disko Bay, an inlet ...

and

Nuussuaq Nuussuaq (old spelling: ''Nûgssuaq''), formerly Kraulshavn, is a settlement in Avannaata municipality in northwestern Greenland. It is the only mainland settlement in the Upernavik Archipelago, located near the western tip of the Nuussuaq Penin ...

settlement some 45 kilometers to the south, with both names translating as "''large tip''". Its Danish name 'Holm Ø' ('Holm Island') had been given in honour of officer of the

Danish Navy The Royal Danish Navy (, ) is the Naval warfare, sea-based branch of the Danish Armed Forces force. The RDN is mainly responsible for maritime defence and maintaining the sovereignty of Denmark, Danish territorial waters (incl. Faroe Islands and ...

and Arctic explorer Gustav Holm (1849 – 1940).

Geography

Located in the southern part of Melville Bay, Kiatassuaq Island has an elongated shape, with an east–west orientation. It has an area of , with a shoreline of .

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 ...

is the closest settlement to Kiatassuaq Island, located on an island of the same name, to the north. Kiatassuaq Island is accessible only by boat. The island is separated from the

Sanningassorsuaq Peninsula Sanningassorsuaq Peninsula (old spelling: ''Sáningassorssuaq'') is a mainland peninsula in northwestern Greenland, located at the northern end of Upernavik Archipelago.''Upernavik Avannarleq'', Saga Map, 1:250.000, Tage Schjøtt, 1992 Geograph ...

on the mainland of Greenland by the Ikerasaa Strait.''Upernavik Avannarleq'', Saga Map, Tage Schjøtt, 1992 The strait is split into two channels, with the small Millissua Island straddling the middle. In the northeast, the Alison Bay separates the island from the

Wandel Land Wandel Land is a nunatak () in Avannaata 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 a ...

nunatak A nunatak (from Inuit language, Inuit ) is the summit or ridge of a mountain that protrudes from an ice field or glacier that otherwise covers most of the mountain or ridge. They often form natural pyramidal peaks. Isolated nunataks are also cal ...

. In the north, the Saqqarlersuup Sullua separates the island from the smaller, rocky Saqqarlersuaq Island and

Kullorsuaq Island Kullorsuaq Island (old spelling: ''Kuvdlorssuaq'') is an island in the Avannaata municipality in northwestern Greenland. The name of the island means "''a big thumb''" in the Greenlandic language. Geography Part of the Upernavik Archipelago, K ...

Coastline

The coastline of the island is generally undeveloped, with small inlets only in its eastern end, near the Ikerasaa Strait and the sibling Milissua Island.

Promontories

Although the southern boundary of

is arbitrary, it is Wilcox Head, the western cape of Kiatassuaq Island, which is the most commonly referred to as the southern limit of the bay. Other definitions limit the bay to the Little Renland nunatak farther north where the coastline of mainland Greenland veers to the northwest, or expand it southwards to

, on the other side of

Inussulik Bay Inussulik Bay (, old spelling: ''Inugsugdlip Imâ'') is a bay in the Upernavik Archipelago in Avannaata municipality in northwestern Greenland. Geography The bay is located in the northern part of Upernavik Archipelago, between Kiatassuaq Isl ...

Lakes and mountains

There is a number of smaller mountain

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

s on the island, and one larger Tasersuaq Lake at the lower, eastern end of the island. The island is very mountainous, with a glaciated ridge spanning its entire length. The highest point on the island is an unnamed peak of in the center of the island. Several other summits of the island ridge exceed , from the massif overlooking Tasersuaq Lake in the east to the bastion over the Wilcox Head promontory in the west.

References

External links

*
1:1,000,000 scale Operational Navigation Chart, Sheet B-8
{{Upernavik Archipelago Inussulik Bay Uninhabited islands of Greenland Melville Bay Islands of the Upernavik Archipelago