Rolling on the Seas September 2, 2011

This morning’s talk by Jon Sigurdsson was on Greenland, our next stop. The island of Greenland is not really named Greenland, at least that’s not what the people who live there call it. It is called something like “Cashanialuk,” which means Land of the People. Greenland is really part of North America. The settlers here came mainly from Arctic Canada, Alaska, and America. It is a Danish island and is covered with a huge ice cap. The population is 57,000 and most people live on the west coast.

The coat of arms of Greenland is a standing polar bear that is growling and has a huge red tongue sticking out of his mouth. The main occupation is hunting—for seals, fish, birds, caribou, and sometimes polar bears. They use the skin for clothing, the blubber for lighting, the meat for food, and the tusks and horns for art. They use kayaks for hunting—made of driftwood covered with seal skin. The depletion of the glaciers because of warming is making it harder for them to hunt. They also use the kayaks to move between their summer and winter dwellings, sometimes using an upturned kayak as a temporary home in between.

The Innuits do a form of drum singing where they deform their faces to do so. They also have something called Tupelaks that they carve and give it life and send it to kill their enemies. Sometimes this backfires though if the enemy is too strong. Some of these have double or triple heads. Because of the terrain, the graveyards are unique. They blast open the ground and put the coffins in then cover them with large rocks.

Halibut and shrimp are exported form Greenland and to store the fish, they gather pieces of icebergs! It is easier than freezing water. Many villages here have only 100-200 people in them. As late as 1994, some of the families were still living in the turf and sod homes with no water, no electricity, and with warming by using oil.

There are many legends in this land to explain the comings of the natural elements like wind and rain. There are also many icebergs surrounding the island. As a matter of fact, most of the coastline is blocked for most of the year with ice. No towns are connected with roads. The people use boats, ferries, dogsleds, planes, & helicopters to get from one town to another.

We stayed in the auditorium for Bud Murch’s lecture on the Sun, but it was pretty elementary and I found it boring. I did learn that the Vatican has an observatory and a permanent astronomer. Funny considering the trouble they gave Galileo! Also learned that tree rings are widely spaced during times when the weather is cool and moist and the tree isn’t stressed. Tightly spaced means the weather was hot & dry. There is an 11 year cycle to sunspots and we are in a Solar Max times now but are headed towards cooler and moister weather in general. Also reminded that the Sun will eventually become a white dwarf and planetary nebula in about 10 billion years.

Went back this afternoon for the talk by Jon on Nanortalik and Prins Christian Sund (Prince Christian Sound). We will be cruising the Sound tomorrow and visiting Nanortalik on Sunday. Nanortalik is Greenland’s most southerly town and lies in a scenic area consisting of some of Greenland’s picturesque fjords, small woodlands, and steep mountainsides. The town’s name means the “place of polar bears,” which refers to the polar bears that occasionally pass by the town in the summer in conjunction with the field ice from the Arctic Ocean. Nanortalik is best known for its natural “skyscrapers,” the steep, jagged peaks and sheer cliffs in Tasermuit Fjord, Pamialluk, and the unique Prince Christians Sound. It is a mecca for mountain climbers, rock climbers, hikers and kayakers. The town is less than ½ mile from front to back. Not even any shore excursions to offer here as everything there is to see is right here.

The primary occupations are seal hunting, fishing, service and administration. The district around Nanortalik is home to 2200 people distributed between the town itself, five settlements and a number of sheep-holding stations. In addition to the well-preserved old quarter, Nanortalik can boast a wooden church from 1916 and an open-air museum consisting of several buildings.

The town of Ittoqqortoormiit is only accessible by boat during the summer. It has a population of 469. It is one of the 10 most remote towns in the world.