Qaanaaq, Greenland, is one of the northernmost towns in the world. It has a population of about 646 people.
It is one of the few place-names that is a palindrome. According to ChatGPT…
How to get there….
The Airport
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=49534080
El Supermercado Qaanaaq
The supermarket is restocked twice a year. This photo is from a Mirror article about the impact of global warming on Qaanaaq.
(BTW: The Mirror gets the WLBOTT Late Stage Capitalism Piece of Crap Award [WLBOTTLSCPOCA]. The web site is so heavily laden with ads and hot links that it is almost impossible to obtain information)
Stark Beauty
The sea ice breaks up in August….
By Helene Brochmann – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=92180933
By Col. Lee-Volker Cox
http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123104132, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5141624
By Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2022, Attribution
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=132525213
Google Street View
How on Earth did they get a Google Car to Qaanaaq?
The CTBTO Station
By The Official CTBTO Photostream – Flickr: Infrasound Arrays, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=14841798
When do you set out your tomatoes?
Washington Post / Sarah Kaplan Connection
We learned of Qaanaaq from a series of articles by Washington Post climate writer Sarah Kaplan.
A couple recent articles by Sarah describe some unique research of the Greenland ice sheet:
- Buried Under the Ice. A long read, but a fascinating story. Lots of suspense, excitement, and discovery. WLBOTT highly recommended!
- What Arctic Ice Tells Us About Climate Change. Great nuts-and-bolts article that is a companion to the above article
A team in northern Greenland drilled through 1,671 ft of ice to get a rock sample underneath. Sarah’s story is so compelling that it would make a great movie script!
By examining cosmogenic nuclides in the bedrock, they can determine the last time the rock was exposed to sunlight. In other words, how often does Greenland melt all the way down to bedrock? Here’s the thinking: if Greenland melts down the to bedrock fairly often (in geological terms), then we should expect a full melting in our current climate change environment. That’s 24 feet of sea level increase.
The team had to build the drilling rig from crates dropped off from helicopters. They used a fluid called Isopar to flush out the ice as they drilled. The engineering details and challenges will appeal to your inner nerd.
Cosmogenic Nuclide Scientists are known for their rock-solid sense of humor:
Destination Qaanaaq
Distance from Edmonton, Alberta: unknown, but in km
Distance from Austin, Texas: unknown
Distance from Santa Barbara, California: unknown
WLBOTT Status: Approved
Will there be a Buffet? Fresh produce as an arrival gift would be appreciated, but may violate import restrictions.
