Nuussuaq Peninsula


Nuussuaq Peninsula 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 of Baffin Bay. It is separated from Qeqertarsuaq Island by Sullorsuaq Strait, known in Danish as Vaigat Strait, which connects Disko Bay with Baffin Bay. To the northeast, it is bounded by the Uummannaq Fjord system.
The peninsula is mountainous, with the highest summit reaching. The spinal range splits in two to the northwest of the base of the peninsula, with the southern arm forming the coastal range, the central arm almost entirely glaciated, and continuing northwest the entire length of the peninsula. The two arms are dissected by a deep Kuussuaq Valley, partially filled in the center with Sarqap Tassersuaq, a glacial, emerald lake.

Climate

The entire Nuussuaq Peninsula experiences a tundra climate ; with short, quite cool summers and long, frigid winters.
Eastern settlements such as Uummannaq and Qaarsut are sheltered from the coastal winds by the high, glaciated Qilertinnguit mountain. Consequently, occasional strong foehn winds from the southeast can occur, raising the temperature above freezing even in winter. Moreover, this causes the area to be considered as the sunniest spot in Greenland. Climate data below was collated from 2000 to 2020 at Qaarsut Airport, representative of leeward locations.
The Nuusuaq weather station has operated since 1991. It showcases the climate on the peninsula's west coast. Due to its exposed position next to the Baffin Bay, it has a lower seasonal temperature range, smaller diurnal temperature variation greater seasonal lag and higher relative humidity compared with the Qaarsut Airport station.

Settlements

The peninsula is administered as part of the Avannaata municipality. The main settlements are Qaarsut and Niaqornat on the northwestern shore, Saqqaq on the southeastern shore, at the foot of the Livets Top mountain, and Qeqertaq on a small island just off the southern shore, at the base of the peninsula.

History

Archaeological excavations in Qilakitsoq on the southwestern shore revealed the existence of an ancient Arctic culture later named the Saqqaq culture that inhabited the area of west-central Greenland between 2500 BCE and 800 BCE.
The world's largest fossil mollusk, Inoceramus steenstrup, was found in 1952 in Qilakitsoq Valley on the peninsula.
Major landslides have occurred along the southern coast of the peninsula since prehistoric times, sometimes generating tsunamis or megatsunamis in Sullorsuaq Strait:
  • Research indicates that nine large tsunamigenic landslides struck Sullorsuaq Strait in prehistoric times during the Holocene, seven of them from the southern coast of the Nuussuaq Peninsula and two others from the northern coast of Disko Island across the strait from the peninsula. Seven of the landslides apparently occurred between about 8020 BC and 6520 BC with unidentified tsunamigenic effects. The two most recent prehistoric landslides generated megatsunamis which struck Alluttoq Island, the first sometime around 5650 BC with a run-up height of, and another that struck around 5350 BC with a run-up height of.
  • On 15 December 1952, an thick landslide began at a height of on a slope of the mountain Niiortuut and traveled. Between of material entered Sullorsuaq Strait, creating of new land extending into the strait and generating a tsunami. With a run-up height of, it struck a group of four fishermen away on the southern coast of the Nuussuaq Peninsula, killing one of them. Then it struck the town of Qullissat away across the strait on Disko Island, where it had a run-up height of.
  • On 21 November 2020, a landslide with a mass of 260,000,000 tons fell from an elevation of at Paatuut, reaching a speed of. About of material with a mass of 87,000,000 tons entered Sullorsuaq Strait, generating a megatsunami. The wave had a run-up height of near the landslide and at the former site of Qullissat, away, where it inundated the coast as far as inland. Refracted energy from the tsunami created a wave with a run-up height of that destroyed boats at Saqqaq, from the landslide.
  • An unwitnessed landslide from an elevation of consisting of of frozen debris and rock occurred at Assapaat on 13 June 2021. About of material entered Sullorsuaq Strait but apparently did not generate a tsunami.