The Prince Christian Sound (Greenlandic: Ikerasassuaq; Danish: Prins Christians Sund) is a waterway in Southern

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 separates the mainland from Sammisoq (Christian IV Island) and other islands of the

Cape Farewell Archipelago Cape Farewell Archipelago (also Nunap Isua Archipelago) is an island group located at the southern end of Greenland in Kujalleq municipality. The archipelago takes its name from Cape Farewell, a headland of Egger Island (also known as Itilleq). ...

near the southernmost tip of Greenland. The name was given in honour of the prince, later king

Christian VIII of Denmark Christian VIII (18 September 1786 – 20 January 1848) was King of Denmark from 1839 to 1848 and, as Christian Frederick, King of Norway in 1814. Christian Frederick was the eldest son of Frederick, Hereditary Prince of Denmark, Hereditary Prin ...

Geography

The Prince Christian Sound connects the

Labrador Sea The Labrador Sea (; ) is an arm of the North Atlantic Ocean between the Labrador Peninsula and Greenland. The sea is flanked by continental shelf, continental shelves to the southwest, northwest, and northeast. It connects to the north with Baffi ...

with 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), ...

. It is around 100 km (60 miles) long and it is narrow, sometimes only wide. The only settlement along this sound is Aappilattoq. The long fjord system is mostly surrounded by steep mountains in general reaching over , one of them high. Many glaciers go straight into its waters where they calve icebergs. There are often strong tidal currents limiting the formation of ice. It has many offshoots, such as

Kangerluk Kangerluk, also known by its Danish name Diskofjord, is a settlement in Qeqertalik municipality, in western Greenland, located on the southwestern shore of Disko Island along with the island's biggest settlement Qeqertarsuaq Qeqertarsuaq ...

to the north midway through the fjord, Ikeq Fjord in the south, and in the west Ilua Fjord, Ikerasaq Fjord (Akuliarutsip Imaa), Utoqqarmiut Fjord (Pamialluup Kujatinngua) and the

Torsukattak Fjord Torsukattak is a fjord in far southern Greenland. Administratively it is part of the Kujalleq municipality. Geography Torsukattak Fjord is located to the southwest of Prince Christian Sound near the Cape Farewell Archipelago. The fjord is ...

Weather station

At the entrance to the East of the Strait () is a weather station founded by the US during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

named

Bluie Bluie was the United States military code name for Greenland during World War II. It is remembered by the numbered sequence of base locations identified by the 1941 United States Coast Guard South Greenland Survey Expedition, and subsequently u ...

East One. The task of the weather station was to ensure that the shipping industry had reliable data on the weather at

Cape Farewell, Greenland Cape Farewell (; ) is a headland on the southern shore of Egger Island, Nunap Isua Archipelago, Greenland. As the southernmost point of the country, it is one of the important landmarks of Greenland. Geography Located at , excluding small o ...

. On 7 January 1959, when the ship

MS Hans Hedtoft MS ''Hans Hedtoft'' was a Danish cargo passenger liner that struck an iceberg and sank on 30 January 1959 on her maiden voyage off the coast of Western Greenland. The only piece of the wreckage found was a lifebelt. Description ''Hans Hedtof ...

hit an

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 ...

at Cape Farvel, the radio telegraphist at the weather station at Prince Christian Sound was the first to catch the ship's distress signal. The weather station is today run by the International Civil Aviation Organization

ICAO The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international sch ...

together with Tele Greenland. A long wooden stairway leads from the harbour up to the station with community building,

power plant A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the electricity generation, generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electr ...

, residential barracks and

radio aerial Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connected to ...

plants.

Tourism

The scenery of Prince Christian Sound attracts summer cruise ships to the area, with some vessels as large as the 86,700 ton

Eurodam MS ''Eurodam'' is a for Holland America Line. ''Eurodam'' is the 80th ship to enter Holland America's service, and at 86,700 tons and carrying 2,104 passengers, the 2nd largest of two HAL Signature-class ships, along with her slightly larger ...

, or the 137,000 ton Voyager of the Seas. Ships must go slowly due to the icebergs.

Climate

Prince Christian Sound has a maritime

polar climate The polar climate regions are characterized by a lack of warm summers but with varying winters. Every month a polar climate has an average temperature of less than . Regions with a polar climate cover more than 20% of the Earth's area. Most of ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''ET'') making borderline with

subpolar oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring co ...

(''Cfc'') due low annual temperature swings for its latitude and relatively high temperature in center months. Summer temperatures are way below the

tree line The tree line is the edge of a habitat at which trees are capable of growing and beyond which they are not. It is found at high elevations and high latitudes. Beyond the tree line, trees cannot tolerate the environmental conditions (usually low ...

requirements, whereas the long winters are comparatively mild for its high latitude. The nearby ice sheet produces cold air which keeps summer temperatures down.

References

External links