Prince Christian Sound
The Prince Christian Sound is a waterway in Southern Greenland.
It separates the mainland from Sammisoq and other islands of the Cape Farewell Archipelago near the southernmost tip of Greenland. The name was given in honour of the prince, later king Christian VIII of Denmark.
Geography
The Prince Christian Sound connects the Labrador Sea with the Irminger Sea. It is around 100 km 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 to the north midway through the fjord, Ikeq Fjord in the south, and in the west Ilua Fjord, Ikerasaq Fjord, Utoqqarmiut Fjord and the Torsukattak Fjord.
Weather station
At the entrance to the East of the Strait is a weather station founded by the US during World War II named Bluie 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. On 7 January 1959, when the ship MS Hans Hedtoft hit an iceberg 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 together with Tele Greenland. A long wooden stairway leads from the harbour up to the station with community building, power plant, residential barracks and radio aerial plants.