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| Ilulissat
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| Ilulissat (in danish
Jakobshavn after the founder Jakob Severin (1691-1753)), meaning "the icebergs" in Kalaallisut (Greenlandinc
language) is the 3rd largest city of Greenland with a population of
approx. 5.000 and it is situated in the
Disko bay at 69°13'N
51°06'W approx 200 km north of the artic circle. The name of the city
comes from the fact that the area is surrounded by icebergs that
detached from the Sermeq Kujalleq (or Icecap), 5 km large, the biggest
glacier of the world after the Antartic. |
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Ilulissat
is a city of small coloured houses. From town it's easy to get to the
Kangia fjord, which was included as part of UNESCO in 2004. In this area
there are many hiking paths. The main one goes to the ruins of "Sermermiut"
that was the ancient settlement almost 4000 years old. It also leads to
"Holm Bakke" where, on january 13th (13
minutes before 13:00)
of each year, the people
of Ilulissat go to welcome back the sun after months of darkness. The
sun light reach town only a week after the 13th of January. |
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Ilulissat there are 2 museums. The Knud Rasmussen museum dedicated to
him and his expeditions shows objects from his famous travelling to the
north pole and with historical danish and inut handcrafts. The other is
the art museum. |
| Ilulissat
Icefjord |
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The
Ilulissat Icefjord (Ilulissat Kangerlua) runs west 40 kilometres from
the Jakobshavn glacier to the sea in the Disko bay. The Ilulissat
glacier is the most productive glacier in the northern hemisphere. The
glacier moves approx 20-35 metres per day with a production of around 20
billion tonnes of icebergs every year. The Icebergs are often so big (up
to a kilometer) that they sometimes get stuck on the bottom of the
icefjord for years, until they break. |
| When the icebergs get to the end
of the fjord the initially travel north with ocean currents before
turning south and running into the Atlantic Ocean. Larger icebergs do
not melt until they reach 40°-45°N (south of the United Kingdom and
level with New York City).
The Ilulissat Icefjord
was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004. |
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