Sugar Loaf Bay is a

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a nar ...

in the

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 ...

in the

Avannaata Avannaata (, da, Det Nordlige, lit=The Northern) 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 I ...

municipality in northwestern

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is ...

. It is an indentation of northeastern

Baffin Bay Baffin Bay (Inuktitut: ''Saknirutiak Imanga''; kl, Avannaata Imaa; french: Baie de Baffin), located between Baffin Island and the west coast of Greenland, is defined by the International Hydrographic Organization as a marginal sea of the Ar ...

. The name of the bay derives from the name of an island of the same name in the bay, Sugar Loaf Island ( kl, Uummannaq, not to be confused with

Uummannaq Island Uummannaq Island ( kl, Uummannap qeqertaa) is a small (12 km2) island in Avannaata municipality in northwestern Greenland. Located in the south-central part of the Uummannaq Fjord, it is home to the most prominent mountain on the Arctic co ...

Geography

The bay is located in the northern part of Upernavik Archipelago, between

Qullikorsuit Island Qullikorsuit Island (old spelling: ''Qutdlikorssuit'') is an uninhabited island in Avannaata municipality in northwestern Greenland. It is located in the northern part of Upernavik Archipelago. History Qullikorsuit Island was inhabited between ...

in the south and

Nuussuaq Peninsula Nuussuaq Peninsula (, old spelling: ''Nûgssuaq'') is a large (180x48 km) 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, ...

in the north.''Upernavik Avannarleq'', Saga Map, Tage Schjøtt, 1992 At its widest − from the ''Nuussuup Nuua'' promontory on Nuussuaq Peninsula to the ''Nuussua'' cape on Kittorsaq Island − Sugar Loaf Bay stretches for . The length of the bay reaches its maximum of at the point where the

Greenland ice sheet The Greenland ice sheet ( da, Grønlands indlandsis, kl, Sermersuaq) is a vast body of ice covering , roughly near 80% of the surface of Greenland. It is sometimes referred to as an ice cap, or under the term ''inland ice'', or its Danish equ ...

( kl, Sermersuaq) drains into the bay via Cornell Glacier.

Islands

There are several islands and

skerries A skerry is a small rocky island, usually defined to be too small for habitation. Skerry, skerries, or The Skerries may also refer to: Geography Northern Ireland * Skerries, County Armagh, a townland in County Armagh * Skerry, County Antrim, a ...

in the bay, scattered over the entire area of the bay.

Amitsorsuaq Island Amitsorsuaq Island is a small, uninhabited island in Avannaata municipality in northwestern Greenland. Geography Amitsorsuaq Island is located in the north-central part of Upernavik Archipelago, in the group between Kangerlussuaq Icefjord in th ...

is the largest island in the bay, forming its southern boundary, and together with Nasaussaq Island separating the bay from the Nasaussap Saqqaa fjord. Ikermiorsuaq Island occupies the center of the bay, while in the northern part of the bay there is a chain of islands paralleling the coastline of Nuussuaq Peninsula. These are, from northeast to southwest: the small ''Inussulikassak'', ''Paornarqortut'',

Itissaalik Itissaalik (old spelling: ''Itivsâlik'', also Itussaalik) is a former settlement in Avannaata municipality in northwestern Greenland. It was located in the northern part of Upernavik Archipelago, on the southern shore of Itissaalik Island, an i ...

(the largest of the chain), ''Saarlia'', Timilersua (the second-largest), and Sugar Loaf Island. In the south, Kittorsaq Island and the northwestern corner of Qullikorsuit Island define the southern end of the bay, at the mouth of Nuussuap Saqqaa Fjord.

Peninsulas

Nuussuaq Peninsula defines the northern limit of Sugar Loaf Bay. Several high, peninsular nunataqs of mainland Greenland extend into the bay:

Anoritooq Anoritooq (old spelling: ''Anoritôq'') is a nunatak ( kl, nunataq) in Avannaata municipality in northwestern Greenland. Geography Anoritooq is located on the mainland of Greenland in the northern part of Upernavik Archipelago. To the north, ...

(), Orsugissap Qaqqarsua (), and Niaqornarsuaq ().

Waterways

Nuussuup Kangia in the northeast and Nasaussap Saqqaa fjord in the southeast are prominent tributary fjords, the former forming an inward extension of the bay. In the east, ''Ieralassuit'' and ''Niaqornasuup Iterlaa' are smaller indentations between the mainland nunataqs.

Settlement

The islands of Sugar Loaf Bay are uninhabited.

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 ...

is the only settlement in the bay, located east of the western tip of the Nuussuaq Peninsula. The bay is used as an inner waterway linking the settlements, offering partial shelter from the open waters of Baffin Bay for fishermen and hunters.

References

{{coord, 73, 58, N, 56, 45, W, scale:1000000, display=title Bays of the Upernavik Archipelago