The Arctic Riviera

NASA satellite image of the fjord country of NE Greenland.  Click to enlarge.

Been looking at the NASA web site and there are new images of almost everywhere! This is the most amazing image I have ever seen of the greatest fjord landscape on Planet Earth -- the North East Coast of Greenland.

There is extraordinary clarity -- just a few wisps of cloud, and remarkably little ice in the fjords as well. This must be late summer -- maybe early September -- before the autumn snows start and before the sea ice moves back in to block off access into the fjords.

When I was working here in 1962 we had long spells of extraordinary hot weather -- this area is often called "The Arctic Riviera" because it is bounded by the ice sheet to the west and the pack-ice belt to the east -- both of which have the effect of blocking off frontal weather conditions.  The only time in my life that I have suffered from heat stroke was in East Greenland in 1962...... and a couple of my colleagues also went down with the effects of poisoning from accumulated mosquito bites.