The Island

Qeqertarsuaq is influenced by Davis Strait and Baffin Bay. The climate is therefore characterized as arctic maritime with relatively large precipitation and large temperature fluctuations. Visitors must be prepared for sudden and substantial change of weather. Mean air temperature at the station in 1997 was -3.3° C, somewhat higher than the average since 1991 (-4.9° C). The lowest 1997 temperature was -29.4° C (March) while the highest temperature, 14.8° C, was registered in June. Wind directions are dominated by orographic conditions.

The prevailing wind direction during the winter is from the east, influenced by cold katabatic air from the Ice Sheet. During the summer the wind often comes from west and brings ‘warm' maritime air masses from the ocean.

Storms in the Davis Strait   several times causes heavy swell on the south and west coast of Disko - so therefore also on the barrier beach in front of the Arctic Station. Foehn events are common in the area and may be accompanied by gales of more than 30 m/sec combined with drastic changes in temperature (in winter a rise in temperature of more than 25° C   in just a single day has been observed).

Snowmobiles are not allowed on the sea ice east of the Arctic Station. Dog sledges are.

The sea is normally covered by ice from December to May. The sea ice coverage in the fiords of western Disko lasts from November to June. But large variations occur. In 1997 the station's research vessel was able to operate until the beginning of February and was only ice bounded until the end of April. 

Arctic Station - and all the town of Qeqertarsuaq - is situated on a low (max. altitude 100 m) Precambrian ridge of gneiss. This is superimposed by thick formations of plateau basalt made of volcanic lava from the early Tertiary era.

The nearby mountains reach an altitude of 600- 800 m. The numerous nearly horizontal, lackish to dark brown-gray lava layers separated by lighter reddish laterit layers is the main landscape landscape feature of the area.

The gneissic bedrock at Qeqertarsuq is intensively sculptured by the Weichselian ice sheet. Very nice examples of roche moutonnée and sickle-shaped fractures can be found. About 1 km east of the station the Blæsedalen, a large U-formed glacial valley, extends more than 30 km towards the north, to Kangerluk, Disko Fjord. The braided river in Blæsedalen is named Røde Elv, the red river, because the water is red coloured from suspended sediment (disintegrated basalt). The river discharge fluctuates significantly throughout the summer season. The annual total discharge is c. 36x10^6 m3 and a mid- to late-summer run-off value is about 3-5 m3/sec.

The valley is approximately 2-3 km wide with steep walls in the plateau basalt showing the characteristic single basalt layers with reddish tuff and regolith in between. The mouth of Blæsedalen towards south is blocked by a 50-70 m high lateral moraine, Pjetursson’s Moraine (see photo above), created by an advancing glacier out through Disko Bay in the late Weichselian. Behind the Arctic Station, Lyngmarksfjeldet rises abruptly to about 600 m, in the uppermost part as a vertical wall in the basalt and further down as active talus with large rock glaciers. It is easy to climb the mountain plateau, where a local ice cap, Lyngmarksbræen, mounts to 955 m a.s.l.

On a day trip three major valley glaciers, Lyngmarksbræen, Chamberlain’s glacier and Petersen’s glacier, can be visited. The area around Qeqertarsuaq is situated in the transition zone of continuous and discontinuous permafrost. A rich variety of periglacial phenomena can be studied: ice and sand wedges, stone polygons, mud circles and pals and pingo formations. The coastline is situated only 300 m south of the station along a 100 m wide sandy coastal barrier, Sorte Sand ('sort' means black in Danish and refers to the black coloured basalt sand).

Between the barrier and station a lagoon has developed. Towards the west the gneiss bedrock forms a skerry island coast and includes the natural and very well protected harbour of Qeqertarsuaq/Godhavn (protected against sea ice pressure, icebergs and large storm waves and swell from the southwest) ('Godhavn' = the good harbour in Danish). East of the station, at the mouth of Blæsedalen, and further eastward, the coast forms a cliff in basalt breccia (subaquatic lava deposits). Impressive formations of column basalt are found here together with sea caves, needles and arches. 9-10.000 years ago the relative sea-level was more than 90 m above the present one. During the upheaval large series of shingle beach ridges have developed. The area between Pjeturssons Moraine and the coastline ( 1 km) is a beach ridge plain.

The botanical terrestrial diversity of the immediate surroundings of the Arctic Station is unique to low Arctic Greenland. Thios is illustrated by the number of species of flowering plants within walking distance from the station: 212 of the 513 Greenland species are growing here. This diversity is surpassed only at one locality in south Greenland in the boreal birch forest zone. The large number of plant species around Arctic Station is caused by a relatively favourable local climate, lowland as well as high mountains, rich soils and a significant number of homothermic springs. The springs provide an extended growing season for the plants in niches of hollow spaces formed between the heated ground and the overlaying snow fans. A significant number of southern plant species have their northernmost border of occurrence in West Greenland right here in the vicinity of the Arctic Station.

Mosses are frequently a dominating feature of the Disko Island landscape.

The Arctic Station marine environment comprises numerous macroalgae. These occur from the sea surface to approximately 50 metres depth. Most conspicuous are the large brown and red algae. Particularly noticeable are the brown algae (the kelps)  Agarum cribrosum and  Laminaria longicruris, the latter sometimes reaching an overall length of 15 metres. The brown alga Fucus is freqyently the dominating alga along the fringes of the ocean, e.g. at Udkiggen. The mechanical eroding forces of the winter sea ice cases the algae to primarily occur in protected groves on rock surfaces. The calcified red algae are very conspicuous at some shallow localities in e.g. the Disko Fiord area.

The marine phytoplankton is dominated by diatoms and haptophytes. There is a tremendous phytoplankton bloom in early spring (May - June). The Disko Bay is characterised by a rich nanoflagellate flora and fauna.