Simiutaq Island

Simiutaq
Nickname: Cruncher Island
	Southern end of Simiutaq Island at the mouth of Kangerlussuaq Fjord
	Simiutaq
Geography
Location	Davis Strait
Coordinates	66°04′00″N 53°32′30″W / 66.06667°N 53.54167°W
Administration
	Greenland
Municipality	Qeqqata

Simiutaq Island is a 13 km × 10 km (8.1 mi × 6.2 mi) uninhabited island in the Qeqqata municipality in western Greenland, located in the mouth of the long Kangerlussuaq Fjord.^[1] It was also known informally as Cruncher Island.

Supply ships of Royal Arctic Line and cruise ships, such as Norway's Hurtigruten^[2] sail into Kangerlussuaq Fjord south of the island. The fjord is navigable in its entire length, with the ships mooring at the Kangerlussuaq port, west of Kangerlussuaq Airport.^[3] There are several small skerries in the mouth of the fjord, at the southern end of Simiutaq Island.

Geography

The island is located on the shores of Davis Strait, separated from the mainland by the Amerluunguaq Strait in the north, and by the main arm of the Kangerlussuaq Fjord in the southeast.^[1] Its name is a generic Inuit name for an island at the head of a fjord. It should not be confused with Simiutaq (near Qaqortoq) in southwest Greenland.

Simiutaq is not an outlying island; it would have been a continuation of the landmass in the north were it not for the narrow and shallow Amerlunnguaq Strait, which branches to the west off Kangerlussuaq Fjord near the mouth of the latter. Simiutaq is roughly triangular in shape, mostly hilly, with low undulating plain in the north, and the highest point at 775 m (2,542.7 ft).^[1]^[4]

Promontories

Direction	Latitude N	Longitude W
Northwestern Cape	66°05′10″	53°40′45″
Eastern Cape	66°04′43″	53°24′13″
Southern Cape	66°01′29″	53°34′00″

Settlement

The closest settlement is Kangaamiut, located on a small island on the shores of Davis Strait, approximately 26 km (16 mi) south of the island.

The northern end of Simiutaq Island in the mouth of Kangerlussuaq Fjord, seen in bad weather from the Sarfaq Ittuk ship of Arctic Umiaq Line during the Sisimiut-Kangaamiut voyage alongside the coast of Davis Strait.

History

The "Cruncher Island" light and radio beacon, commonly referred to as Bluie West Nine (BW-9) during the time of American operation in Greenland during World War II, was a wartime radio communications facility located at 66°03′N 53°36′W / 66.050°N 53.600°W / 66.050; -53.600 (Bluie West 9) on Simiutak Island.^[5]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Maniitsoq, Saga Map, Tage Schjøtt, 1992
^ Hurtigruten.co.uk Archived 2010-05-09 at the Wayback Machine
^ sisimiut.gl^{[permanent dead link]}
^ "Simiutak". Mapcarta. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
^ "Joint Committee Annual Report 2011" (PDF). United States State Department. Retrieved 9 August 2014.

[saga-1] Maniitsoq, Saga Map, Tage Schjøtt, 1992

[2] Hurtigruten.co.uk Archived 2010-05-09 at the Wayback Machine

[3] sisimiut.gl^{[permanent dead link]}

[mapcarta-4] "Simiutak". Mapcarta. Retrieved 3 August 2019.

[jcr-5] "Joint Committee Annual Report 2011" (PDF). United States State Department. Retrieved 9 August 2014.

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