thumb|260px|Map of Greenland Sea, showing Scoresby Sound at top left.

thumb|Scoresby Sound

Scoresby Sound (Danish: Scoresby Sund, Greenlandic: Kangertittivaq) is a large fjord system of the Greenland Sea on the eastern coast of Greenland. It has a tree-like structure, with a main body approximately long that branches into a system of fjords covering an area of about . The longest of the fjords extends inland from the coastline.

The name of the sound honours English explorer William Scoresby, who in 1822 mapped the fjord area in detail. The name “Sound” comes from the Scandinavian word “Sund” for “strait”, which is commonly used to describe narrow waterways between landmasses.

Geography

Scoresby Sound lies between Jameson Land to the north, and King Christian IX Land to the south. To the west beyond Milne Island is the Renland peninsula. The land surrounding the fjord is mostly mountainous, with steep rising edges.

The mouth is 29 km wide between the Kangikajik (Cape Brewster, 70°09'N) at the end of the Savoia Peninsula and Uunarteq (Cape Tobin 70°24'N). Its southern part is a steep, tall wall of basalt, and the northern side is lower and more rounded. The mouth extends for about to the west, slightly turns north, widens, and forms a basin called Hall Bredning. founded in 1937. During the Second World War it was the site of the US Coastguard’s Bluie East Three weather station.

Main fjords

The Hall Bredning basin splits into several branches including the Nordvestfjord, Ofjord (Øfjord)—which splits into the Rype Fjord and Hare Fjord, Rode Fjord (Røde Fjord), Gase Fjord (Gåsefjord) and Fonfjord (Fønfjord). Between the Ofjord and Fonfjord lies the largest island of the system, Milne Land. Precipitation is low, at about per month. Tides are semidiurnal, with the amplitude of .

Birds are represented by barnacle goose, pink-footed goose, snow goose, whooper swan, king eider, common eider, long-tailed duck, Brunnich's guillemot, black guillemot, little auk, puffin, fulmar, herring gull, glaucous gull, great black-backed gull, kittiwake, Arctic tern, red-throated diver, great northern diver, red-breasted merganser, ptarmigan, raven, snowy owl, Greenlandic gyrfalcon, etc. Most of them are migrating species and form large colonies which may contain up to millions of individuals (for little auk).

Fishes of the area include Arctic char, Greenland halibut, polar cod, cuttlefish, wolf fish and Greenland shark. Aquatic mammals are dominated by seals (ringed, hooded, harbor, bearded and harp seal) which feed on fish in winter (mostly polar cod) and crustaceans in summer. Larger species include Atlantic walrus, narwhal and sometimes beluga whale. Atlantic walrus feeds on mussels, fish and ringed seals that urges ringed seals to disappear from the area when walruses stay there for prolonged periods.

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See also

  • List of fjords of Greenland
  • List of research stations in the Arctic
  • Scoresby Land

References

Bibliography

  • Detailed map of the Scoresby Sund